AQUA: The First Step
by Anonymous Jonin
Summary: Wake up. Train. Kill. Survive. These things are the basic routine for the students of the Jaeger Program. But, when only one man walks out of it alive, what will he become? A Beacon of light? Or an Assailant for darkness?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: We do not own RWBY in any way. All rights to the RWBY franchise belong strictly to Rooster Teeth Productions, and the late Monty Oum, please support the official release.**

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Chapter 1: Before the Beginning

...

"Theirs not to make reply

Theirs not to reason why

Theirs but to do and die

Into the Valley of Death

Rode the Six Hundred"

-Lord Alfred Tennyson

 _The Charge of the Light Brigade_

 **16 Years before the Battle Of Beacon: Atlesian Arctic Wasteland**

Alexander Wallace didn't know much about the outside world, hadn't seen much of the world outside of the white walled facility he had been raised in. His earliest memories were not about playing with siblings, or other children, like most kids his age, but rather of his fifth birthday, when the training began.

Now, five years later, he stood inside an Atlesian Black Ops Bullhead dropship, surrounded by nine other students in the program, and a supervising Atlesian Specialist. He knew little about his situation outside what one trainer had told him with a kind smile on his fifth birthday. The trainer had told him that he was one of a hundred children who had been selected to be trained to become one of the greatest Huntsman Remnant had ever seen. Alexander quite liked that idea.

He liked it a lot.

His group of ten students total followed the specialist through the barren wasteland that surrounded them, the only color around them coming from the abhorrent snow that was omnipresent in Atlas. The rolling hills rose and fell around them, the blanket of snow concealing any distinguishing features that might have helped them locate where they were, including, for the most part, the other children, all of whom wore white coats with matching pants, combat boots, goggles, hats, and woolen masks to cover their mouths and throats.

The class was there to watch the Specialist while he worked, having been assigned a simple extermination mission from the Director of the Jaeger Program, Dr. Geppetto Polendina, who, among other things, like the Director of various programs and initiatives for the Atlesian military, was also the Director of the Research and Development branch of the Atlesian government.

And so the mission began, as many missions do, with a single Beowolf howl.

The group, like ten other groups in other parts of the globe, watched with quiet awe and respect as the Specialist fought off the Grimm onslaught with an efficiency born of a career in the military. And Alexander, like the other 99 children in the program, decided that this was what he wanted to do.

More than anything else in the world.

 **Three Years Later**

Dr. Polendina had been sending the children out on increasingly difficult missions for the past couple years, once they had all either built or assembled weapons. Most were simple Grimm extermination missions, but were occasionally more violent, closer to what one would expect of a black operations outfit. Most of those were harmless, infiltrating specific houses or compounds, not to steal anything, just to see if they could.

But every once in awhile, the extermination missions weren't to kill Grimm. Last month, Alexander had slunk into a building that served as the headquarters of a drug ring with fourteen other students to assassinate everyone inside with impunity. Inside, they found drug addicts, sprawled out on the ground, higher than the clouds. They found prostitutes, some alive, others not, some even begging for death, but all of them sported numerous injuries that at the very least looked extremely painful, if not downright life threatening. Finally, they also found drug dealers, cooks, various other gang members, and the kingpin of the entire operation.

Everyone inside died, either a silenced bullet through the head, or a blade through the throat.

A month or so later was when the first suicide happened. Alexander didn't see it, but he could have sworn he saw Director Polendina arguing furiously outside the other kid's room with two men, one who stood with a haughty air around him, a thick white mustache and slicked back hair, in a bright white suit that sharply contrasted Polendina's own more typical black suit.

The other stood with a commanding air, clearly an Atlesian officer, indicated by his white military uniform with a multitude of medals on the left breast. He had deep red hair, a rarity in Atlas, and a matching mustache that did little to hide the mouth that curved upwards in a conspiratorial smile which only grew when he looked down the hall and saw Alexander Wallace, barely thirteen years old, his bright blue eyes curious and darting, his dark brown hair cut short so it was barely more than fuzz on his scalp.

Dr. Polendina, who had consistently made time at least once a week to meet with each child in his program, who was at least liked, if not outright loved, by every child in the program, the one who had basically taught all of them social skills, who had shown up everyday for the past eight years to the facility, didn't show up the next day, nor did he show up the day after that. In fact, none of the children saw Dr. Polendina ever again, something that concerned Alexander greatly, as well as the rest of the children, as instead of Dr. Polendina, the officer Alexander had seen started showing up more and more, always with a sick smile on his face.

And somehow, Alexander knew, deep in his soul, that this would be the turning point for the Jaeger Program. And he was right. What would come next for the Jaeger Program would test the limits of their body and their mind.

 **One Year Later**

Alexander stood, once more surrounded by other children from the Jaeger Program, on the deck of an Atlesian Bullhead dropship. His bright blue eyes glowed slightly in the darkness, his entire body aching with pain with every bump and jolt the dropship experienced. In the past year, the remaining ninety nine children in the Program had gone through what could only affectionately called hell.

None of them had taken missions in the past year, and yet, even so, Alexander had been in the hospital no fewer than twelve times in the past year. It would have been more, but Alexander had stopped going when he got shot, or broke a bone, or got cut, reasoning that he could fix it himself, and that way wouldn't miss any training hours that he would then have to train through the night to make up after he had done his mandatory twelve hours broken up into three four hour sessions, one before breakfast, one between breakfast and lunch, and one between lunch and dinner.

Every day, one child would be randomly chosen after dinner to go through what was called interrogation training, though people who weren't utter morons would call it torture. Everything short of permanent injury and death was fair game to the sick bastards that tortured the children. Beatings, electric shocks, stabbings, waterboarding, all were common in that damned room that had once had bleached white walls and floor, but were now an amalgamation of brown and red from both fresh and dried blood.

They had all long since learned to mask everything they felt, everything from emotions to pain, all ignored and replaced with nothing but the orders they were given.

But tonight, for the first time in a year, they were able to go on an extermination mission. Their clothes were completely black, black turtleneck sweaters pulled up to cover their mouths, black cargo pants, black gloves, tinted goggles, black combat boots, and the ten children were moving to put on helmets when strange masks that looked like Grimm, and white armbands with a red wolf head with red claw marks behind it were passed out to them by the red haired officer.

Questions raced through Alexander's mind, but he ignored them while he took off his goggles to put on the mask, before sliding the armband on his left bicep. He followed behind the other children off the dropship, forming up in a ring, pistols and rifles pointed outward while the dropship took off. When the dropship had left their immediate area, a crackle came from the earpiece Alexander wore in his right ear.

" _Longship,_ this is Raider Actual, we are on the ground. What are marching orders, over?" Said a boy off to Alexander's left who was the leader of their little group that had been given the callsign Raider.

"Raider Actual, this is Commander Vasilyevich. To the north there is a house belonging to some very bad people, some people that the Atlesian government would very much like dead. Everyone inside, including children, are to be assumed to be hostile and shot on sight. Leave one armband and mask behind in the house before you depart. From now on, on your missions, your default setting should be weapons free. Over" Alexander could feel conflicting emotions start to rise within him, and quickly squashed them down.

'Orders are orders. We can't mess up this mission.' Alexander thought, following his leader through the forest, a high impact dust pistol in one hand, and a combat knife in the other, his personalized pistols holstered on his thighs.

They split up into two groups when they reached a brick wall surrounding the estate, Alexander assigned to lead a five man team around to the back of the house, and to breach and eliminate with prejudice from there.

On the other side of the estate, Alexander called it in when they were opposite the other group. "Raider Actual, this is Raider Two, we have a charge set on the wall, standing by for breach order." He waited patiently, back pressed against the wall a couple feet from the charge.

"Raider Two, breach on one. Three, two, one." Simultaneously, on opposite sides of the estate, two muffled explosions crumbled sections of the wall around the estate, and two groups of five fourteen year olds each streamed in through the gaps, approaching the estate slowly over the expansive grounds.

Alexander walked slowly across the well manicured lawn, eyes darting back and forth across the yard, looking for any threats while his team spread out around him, small red dots from the laser sights on their guns sweeping across the lawn. Alexander raised his hand and his entire team froze before slowly dropping to their stomachs when a large burly security guard stepped out of a back door, a cigarette hanging from his mouth.

He slowly rose to a knee, his silenced pistol rising to point just above the cherry glow from the cigarette, and felt the pistol jump in his hands, the loudest sounds in the night being the slide of his pistol, and the thump from the bodyguard hitting the ground.

Alexander quickly moved up, his team following him. He quickly grabbed the bodyguard and pulled him into a bush next to the door he walked out of. Slowly, he opened the door and stepped inside, his eyes and firearm sweeping across the room.

A moment later, his team joined him just as a woman, clearly a bodyguard, given her body armor and rifle, walked into the room from the other side. Five weapons swept up and fired before the woman even had a chance to move her rifle, and she fell to the ground a moment later, her head clearly splattered across the wall behind her.

Alexander moved forward, pulling the woman into a corner where she couldn't be seen from the hallway and carefully creeped into the hallway before conveying to his team, through hand signs, to split up. Two went off to the right, and two went off to the left, leaving Alexander to walk up the stairs alone.

He crept up the stairs silently even for his enhanced sense of hearing, a result of his semblance, which he had unlocked several months prior, and was causing his eyes to glow softly behind the Grimm mask, as his semblance was just about always active, slowing down his perception of time minutely, enhancing his senses to inhuman levels, and giving him ungodly fast reflexes.

He ghosted down the hallway silently, walking right up behind a patrolling guard, and killing him with a knife to the back of the neck, severing his brain from his spinal column, and severing the man's vocal cords as a precaution. Catching the body and placing him quietly against the wall, he continued to prowl the second floor, peeking into empty room after empty room and silencing every guard that crossed his path as he did so.

Eventually, Alexander moved up to the third floor, killing a couple of guards that were unlucky enough to catch his eye in the process of finding his way around.

He looked through several rooms, mostly empty but for some slumbering servants, before he finally ran into Raider Actual outside the last room.

"Foxtrot."

"Uniform."

With their greetings out of the way, they each took hold of door in front of them, slowly opening one side of the double door.

Inside slept a woman with light blond hair and two girls who must have been her daughters. Strangely, no father in the room.

Alexander and Raider Actual looked at each other for a long moment before they both stood up, Alexander removing his mask and armband slowly, dropping them on the ground next to the bed before raising his gun with Raider Actual, pointing them at the woman in the bed. A moment of hesitation was met with a commanding voice on the other end of their earpieces.

"Raider Actual, Raider Two, do it, or you will be reclaimed and summarily executed." Said Commander Vasilyevich, his voice harsh with anger. Alexander felt a pit grow in his stomach when he looked over at Raider Actual, whose hand was shaking slightly.

Raider Actual took a deep breath, his hand steadying, and pulled the trigger several times. Following his lead, Alexander pulled his own trigger several times as well, before they each stepped back, watching the red blood stain the white sheets and blanket for a couple moments before they walked out, heads bowed while Raider Actual put his hand on his earpiece.

"Raiders, report in." He said, waiting for the team to count down from ten, all calling out that they had cleared the house. When it got to Alexander's turn, his hand slowly rose up to his earpiece with a slight shake.

"Raider Two, clear, over." He said, before taking a deep shuddering breath.

"Raider Actual to _Longship_ , all hostiles in the area have been neutralized, we'll rendezvous out front of the house for pickup, over."

 **One Year Later**

It was that first mission that the different teams went on that really kicked off the children starting to really snap. One week after that mission, Alexander watched as Raider Actual tried to run, to flee the facility, only to have his head blown off by a sniper before he got five hundred yards from the door.

The other team leaders all tried similar things, all trying to run, all just wanting to escape the mania the Jaeger Program had become. People stopped trying to run when they realized that they wouldn't get far. The people running the program must have realized that they had stepped over a line, having the children kill innocent kids in their sleep. But that didn't stop it.

Alexander and other children were promoted to the position of team leader for their respective teams, and they were out on missions the week after Raider Actual died. This time, they were dressed in full Atlesian military uniforms and airdropped outside of houses deep in the slums, and instructed to kill everyone inside. And so they did, although the houses were not filled with the typical societal rejects, junkies, drug dealers, and the like, but rather with Faunus.

And Raider team was not the only team to kill Faunus. Alexander asked around and found that every team in the Jaeger Program was sent to kill Faunus. That week, at least one child from each team managed to sneak their gun out of the armory, and put a bullet through their own head.

But the Jaeger Program just kept moving forward, Commander Vasilyevich's smile growing with each passing day. Once again, the following week, Alexander, having lost his team leader, as well as two of his teammates, was sent out to a house deep in the forests outside Vale, where he and his team discovered a Faunus family, and were ordered to blow up the house. More people tried to run after that. It didn't work any better for them than anyone previous.

Alexander, now only down to himself, and four other team members, was put in charge of another team that was also only down to five members, as well as his own. And since then, they hadn't been on any missions. And because they hadn't been on missions, their training was increased, and every child found themselves in the torture chamber at least once a week.

If Alexander had anything less than an iron will, he would have killed himself too. Honestly, not one person still there of the fifty or so left still believed that hell, or whatever awaited them, was worse than being there. But Alexander stayed, he swallowed his pain and emotions, eventually coming to mask it with sarcasm and mockery until he was alone, where he would let it all out, crying in the shower and nursing injuries carefully until he finally managed to escape into sleep.

He couldn't afford to show weakness. He couldn't let _them_ have anything they could use against him.

So he stayed, because he knew, deep in his soul, that eventually, this would all end, and then, when that day came, he would be able to finally become a Huntsman. And so he suffered, quietly, out of sight of the instructors with their sadistic grins, and the torturers, with their lying smiles and cruel laughter, and he watched as the numbers of his teammates dwindled down to one, and he watched as student after student snuck their guns out of the armory to either end their own lives, or put a bullet through some of the instructors before ending their own life as well.

Anger, sadness, and despair slowly welled up within him until one day, during lunch, he gathered the remaining students, about ten counting himself, and told them his plan.

"Look, guys, this place is going to be the end of us, one way or another, unless we do something about it. Tomorrow, Commander Vasilyevich will be coming. Now, I say we have two options, either lay down and accept what they're doing to us, or we can fight back. If we can kill Commander Vasilyevich, I reckon we can get to a radio, or a comms station, and contact someone in the outside world. But we'll have to fight through the instructors and Vasilyevich's guard to have a shot at this. Are you all in?" He said, looking around to see steely-eyed determination staring back at him from every face, and, for the first time since Dr. Polendina left, Alexander smiled.

The next day, the group of ten was walking to meet Commander Vasilyevich in his office, surrounded by both the instructors and the Commander's personal guard. The double doors opened, creaking slightly, and the group walked in, the instructors and guards all with their hands close to their pistols.

Alexander looked around him at the other students when Commander Vasilyevich walked in behind them, nodding imperceptibly. They had gone over the plan multiple times. When the Commander sat down the students leapt into action.

Alexander dove to his right, taking out the legs of one of the Commander's guards before grabbing the pistol from the guard's holster while they stood up. The guard charged at Alexander, whose eyes were blazing a remarkable blue.

The guard brought his fist back, and swung. Alexander stepped to the side, shoving the barrel of the gun into the guard and pulling the trigger, putting a shot into the guard's shoulder, and causing him to fall to the ground, before Alexander put a bullet in the back of his head. Alexander ran towards the other guard, who had managed to throw off his own attacker and kill him.

Alexander jumped up, planting a foot in the guard's face, throwing him to the ground before putting a bullet through his skull. He looked up to see the Commander standing behind his desk, an assault rifle held in his hand, his finger about to press down on the trigger. Time slowed down for Alexander as the Commander pulled the trigger, sweeping the weapon from side to side.

Alexander dropped to the ground, bullets whizzing above his head to kill student and instructor alike until nothing in the room was moving. Alexander stood up slowly, raising his pistol and pointing it at the Commander, whose face was a rictus of anger as he lowered the assault rifle, it's magazine empty.

"Well done, brat, are you going to kill me in revenge for killing your friends? How adorable." The Commander spat at Alexander.

Alexander took a long, slow, deep breath, before he answered. "No. No, I'm killing you in revenge for all the lives you ordered dead at our hands. I'm killing because you perverted the vision of a truly good man who wanted to help the world by making one hundred of the best huntsman and huntresses the world has ever seen." The Commander's lip curled even more in anger, before his face contorted into one of shock when the pistol Alexander held barked and jerked in Alexander's hand, a hole opening up in the Commander's forehead.

Alexander dropped the pistol, walking over to the comm station in the corner of the office and opening up a channel that would broadcast to the entire Atlesian military. Heads all over Atlas turned to the nearest speaker when Alexander's message rang out, including the head of one James Ironwood, recently instated General of the Atlesian military and headmaster of the Atlas school, as well as the other man in his office, one Dr. Polendina.

"Atlas military, this is Raider Actual, Alexander Wallace, calling for any available help to these coordinates. The Jaeger Program has failed. I am the only survivor. Please...someone, I need to get the hell out of here. Over." As the broadcast ended, Dr. Polendina's face, normally fairly jovial, fell to one of sadness and regret.

"Gepetto, what the hell was that about?" Ironwood asked, leaning forward on his desk.

"That, James, is what I came to talk to you about, but I think it should be something I tell you while we are on the _Yggdrasil_." Ironwood followed Dr. Polendina out of his office and to the _Yggdrasil_ , all the way feeling his patience wane. Finally, when they got to Ironwood's ship, and it took off, Ironwood dragged Polendina off to a private room to talk.

"Alright, Gepetto, you're going to tell me what that was about, right now." Ironwood said, in a commanding tone that made clear how he earned his position.

"Well, about 15 years back, I got the clearance needed to start a program I had been proposing to your predecessor for quite some time. It was a program designed to create the best Huntsman and Huntresses the world has ever seen, and I had plans laid out for how exactly I would go about doing it. So, when the General gave me the go ahead, I started my work. I gathered a list of one hundred newborns, all children of accomplished Huntsman, Huntresses, and decorated military officers, and I talked to the parents, told them what I was planning to do, and asked if they would volunteer their baby for what would be called the Jaeger Program. Not one person refused. They all trusted me, James, implicitly. They all knew that what I was planning was intended to do good. And for 11 years, it did spectacularly. All the children were doing well, developing well emotionally, physically, and socially." Polendina paused for a moment to collect his thoughts and prepare himself for what he would say next.

"And then, I decided I would start to send them on missions, mostly just little stuff, and never were they ever sent alone, always in a group of ten. And then, when they were around 13, I was given a mission to assign to a squad of however many I chose to send. It wasn't a bad idea, I knew that I would have to send them on more dangerous missions that would be harder to deal with emotionally than just killing a Grimm. So I didn't look over the mission too hard, just saw infiltrate and exterminate, the two big things these kids had been training to do. I picked fifteen kids to send, five more than I normally assigned, just in case the mission went pear shaped." Polendina gulped hard, his lip starting to quiver in sadness.

"They got there, and it was to kill a drug kingpin and anyone else in the warehouse. They saw some terrible stuff in there, James, they killed for the first time there. Most of them were dealing with it well, but one girl, she saw the worst of it, the prostitutes that had been raped and mutilated, and she kept picturing herself in those poor girl's places, and that just ruined her. About a month after the mission, she hung herself from a pipe in her room, unable to take it anymore. The General heard about it, and, under the nudging of a certain Schnee, replaced me with one of the worst commanders this army has ever or will ever seen. A real monster, famous for sacrificing his own men unnecessarily to ensure a victory. He was only still in the army because that Schnee bastard was able to bribe people and pull strings for him. I got kicked from Director of the Jaeger Program, so, I moved on, hoping against hope that those kids would be able to hold out until I could figure out a way to get rid of Commander Vasilyevich. That's what I came to talk to you about today. The Jaeger Program has made no reports to the Atlas military in years, and I wanted to see if you would send men to find out what was going on. I guess I was too late." Dr. Polendina gave a sad smile, and a long sigh.

"At least one of those kids made it out, so to speak." He said, his sad smile growing slightly. Ironwood nodded slowly the gears in his head turning.

"Do you think he would join the military? I'm sure if he is half as good as you intended them to be, he will be a great asset." Ironwood said, staring thoughtfully at a wall, his arms crossed.

"I don't know, but the kid would only be 15, so he wouldn't join for another couple years, if ever. I would like to see if you can get one of the Schnee children to join the military, if no other reason than to simply spite that man. The oldest should be eligible to join the Atlas academy in two years or so." Polendina said, his smile growing larger as he spoke. Ironwood said nothing, instead opting to simply nod, smiling.

...

Alexander watched, arms crossed, and face in a scowl, as a dropship landed outside the facility he was still begrudgingly in. When the door to the dropship opened, however, his scowl turned into a wide smile as he saw Dr. Polendina and the newly instated General Ironwood walking toward him through the thin blanket of snow, surrounded by a multitude of Atlesian soldiers. He held open the door when they came in, General Ironwood thanking him quietly, and Dr. Polendina smiling at him while the door swung shut behind them. He led them through the halls to his room, where he stepped into the bathroom to change into his white combat uniform, the only clothes he still owned that he could find that weren't covered in blood, or ripped apart by bullets or knives.

He came out in a white turtleneck, white cargo pants, white combat boots, and holding a white jacket, white hat, and goggles, should he need them. Meanwhile, the Atlesian soldiers were combing through the facility, taking pictures of everything they saw.

"Alexander, I'm sure you have many questions for us, and we have many questions for you, but I must insist that you hold any questions until we are on my ship, the _Yggdrasil_." Said General Ironwood, seemingly unaffected by the walk through the facility but for a slight tightening of his lips. Alexander's mouth opened for a moment to ask something, but when he looked over at Dr. Polendina, who shook his head, Alexander closed his mouth and simply nodded before grabbing a backpack that held what little possessions he had that he couldn't wear.

...

It was the first time that Alexander had ever been on a cruiser, having only ever used Bullheads to get to and from the missions he was assigned. Dr. Polendina smiled slightly as Alexander's eyes flew around the rooms and hallways they walked through, taking in everything he could.

Finally, after a much lengthier walk than normal, the three found themselves in a large office that was sparsely decorated at the best. Two bookshelves in the corners next to the door that were barely half full each, a small circular table with two chairs against the right wall, a couch with a table in front of it, and a large wooden desk near the back wall, with a leather chair behind it, and two wooden chairs in front of it for visitors.

Alexander and Dr. Polendina sat down in the wooden chairs while General Ironwood sat in the leather chair, rubbing his temples in an attempt to abate his growing headache. Alexander placed his bag on the ground next to him and shifted around on the chair to find some amount of comfort on the unyielding wood.

After a minute or so, Ironwood looked up, clasping his hands together on the desk, drawing Alexander's attention, for the first time, to the fact that Ironwood wore only one white leather glove on his right hand. 'Why would he only wear one glove? What could he be hiding?' Alexander thought, watching while Ironwood's left hand tensed unconsciously, tugging slightly on the glove, while the right hand remained immobile.

Alexander's eyes travelled up the General's arm, his remarkable eyesight picking up slight twitches from the General's left arm that were never mirrored on his right side, noting the small metal plate on Ironwood's forehead. Alexander's nose twitched, barely, and he tilted his head slightly, picking up a very subtle scent of hydraulic fluid and a slight whir of gears when the General unclasped his hands to flex them slightly before clasping them again.

"General, why are you hiding the fact that you have a cybernetic arm? Cybernetics are not common in the Atlesian military, from what I understand, but they are not unheard of." Alexander asked, earning a bark of laughter from Dr. Polendina before he composed himself again. Ironwood's eyes flashed with shock before returning to their typical impassive blue.

"As much as I'm sure _you_ wish to talk about that, Specialist, that is not what we are here to discuss." Ironwood said, smirking internally when Alexander's and Dr. Polendina's eyes widened at his use of the rank. "Your rank, you may have noticed, is one most can only dream for a hope to earn. I saw, on the way to the facility, the reports that were taken from the databases remotely, and will, after this meeting, read the reports that could only be ripped from direct access to a computer in the base. And, I must say, the reports, however tragic and gruesome they may be, paint a very impressive picture."

"Now I realize that you would very much like to ignore what happened in that facility, and what you did under orders and threat of punishment and death, but, ignoring the results of the actions, the missions you ran were done with amazing efficiency, and in your spars with your instructors and fellow students, you excelled greatly, and have definitely earned the rank." Ironwood slowly stood up, clasping his hands behind his back, and started pacing around behind his desk before walking around it and stopping in front of Alexander.

"In short, regardless of where you turn out, whether you decide to continue in the Atlesian military, or you enroll Atlas Academy, or if you decide to leave Atlas and never come back, you will be a great ally for whoever you fight beside, and a great enemy for those you oppose. So, Alexander, standing before you today, I would like to do two things. One, I would like to offer you a position as a probationary Specialist when you turn seventeen, and a standing invitation to join us at Atlas Academy, should you choose it." Ironwood pulled something out of his pocket, a rectangle of metal and glass, and handed it to Alexander.

"That Scroll comes preprogrammed with Dr. Polendina's number, an address for a house in Atlas where you can stay for as long as you like, a bank account that can easily pay for anything you might need to live on you own, and my own personal Scroll number. Feel free to call the two of us whenever you like, for anything you would like. The Atlesian military owes you a massive debt, and I hope that this is a step in the right direction to begin paying it off." Ironwood gave a small, sad smile that Alexander unknowingly copied as he held the Scroll in his hands.

"So that's it? I get a big huge important rank, a house, money, direct lines to the two of you, and nothing is asked in return? Also, if I don't return to the military, what happens to my rank?" Alexander asked, his eyes getting a small bit frantic. Dr. Polendina laid a hand on Alexander's shoulder, and he looked over at the smiling, kind, doctor.

"That's it. Like the General said, the Atlesian military made mistakes, people made terrible calls, and it tortured one hundred children to the point where ninety nine are now dead. This is our way of starting to amend, starting to say that we're sorry." As the doctor spoke, Alexander visibly started to relax.

"As for your rank, well, as of now you are, in the eyes of the military, a retired veteran, and your rank cannot be stripped of you so long as you don't rejoin the military and do something to get yourself demoted. Provided that doesn't happen, you will forever hold a rank that is second only in importance and command to the General himself. You are the youngest person to ever hold an officer's rank, not to mention the fact that it is just about the most important rank you could hold while General Ironwood still breathes." Dr. Polendina said, making Alexander smile slightly for a moment before it dropped off his face suddenly, worrying Ironwood and Polendina.

"I can't join the Atlesian military. Not yet. Maybe not ever. I have to become a Huntsman. I _will_ become a huntsman." Alexander said, with determination that took the two men off guard. He looked at General Ironwood, who was now nodding slowly, mulling something over in his head.

"I have a friend, a fellow headmaster, who just might be able to help you. He's the headmaster of Beacon Academy, which, I will begrudgingly admit, will be better for you if you are so hell bent on becoming the very best Huntsman that you can. I'll give him a call, and he'll come see you in the next two years about attending his Academy." Ironwood said, making Alexander smile, which only widened when he realized that he really could one day fulfill his dream.

...

 **One Year Later**

Ozpin, and a younger Glynda Goodwitch standing at his side, watched from a rooftop as a group of teenagers pushed around a young teenage boy with bright blue eyes and shaggy brown hair, ragged and torn clothing, and couldn't have been older than 16. The children pushed the boy around, throwing him ruthlessly around an alleyway, into walls and trash cans.

"Why doesn't he fight back?" Glynda asked, her voice laced with concern for the child below them. Ozpin looked over at Glynda briefly before looking back down to the child, who was standing back up with a determined look on his face after being thrown into a trashcan.

"He doesn't want to fight them. He doesn't want to become the monster he thinks he was trained to be. He is very capable, but when he fights, restraint is still something of a foreign concept to him, and from what I understand, when he fought back once, his attackers were left in critical condition." Ozpin said, watching as the group of teenagers grew bored and walked away. He and Glynda waited for another minute or so until the last of the group had left the alleyway and the boy had punched the wall in frustration, leaving a crater in the brickwork.

Ozpin and Glynda dropped down into the alleyway, walking over to the boy who was eyeing them warily. "What? Have the adults decided to beat up on the glowing-eyed freak, too? Surprised it took this long for you all to join in. You know, with how much General Ironwood loves you people, I'd thought you'd be better than this." He said, straightening up with a wince, a hand coming up to hold his ribs.

Glynda gasped softly, her hand coming up to cover her mouth in indignation. Ozpin just shook his head. "We are not here to fight you, child. No, we are here because I wanted to talk to you. Have you ever heard of Beacon?"

"Might have heard of it once or twice, why? What's it got to do with me?" Said the boy, while he twisted and stretched, making sure his aura had healed everything. Glynda was staring at the boy with barely veiled intrigue, her eyes running along the arms that, moments before, had been littered with bruises and cuts.

"I, as the headmaster, am constantly on the lookout for the best and brightest of each generation, to recruit them and bring them to Beacon so that they may train to become huntsman and huntresses to protect our countries against the forces of the Grimm. You were highly recommended, and I would like you, this Fall, to join us at Beacon." Ozpin watched as the boy's eyes slowly thinned in suspicion, and just continued to smile softly the whole time.

"Huh, you must be Ironwood's friend he told me about. Took you long enough to get out here. Alright, I'll go to your school. You guys are the best academy in Remnant, right?" Alexander asked, to which Ozpin simply smiled and nodded, handing him a card with a number and a date on it.

"Get to the City of Vale by the date on that card, and call that number, and you will be taken to the ship every other Beacon student takes to get to the school. I hope we will see you in the fall." Ozpin said, turning and walking away from the smiling boy, Glynda following close behind him.

"So, that was him? He's the only survivor?" She asked, confusion and intrigue written across her face. Ozpin nodded, his smile dropping.

"Yes, out of a group of one hundred, Alexander Wallace is the only one to survive Atlas's Jaeger program. When it was thought up and created, it began as an attempt to train the perfect huntsman and huntresses, but somewhere along the way, it got corrupted and a selfish, cruel man was put in charge with the backing and influence from an even crueler man. From there, it was really only a matter of time before the children they were training were going on black op missions for the military, infiltrating and assassinating people who disagreed with their particular views, mostly faunus and faunus sympathizers. Some of the initiates were killed by bodyguards or security systems when they tried to escape their 'training facility', but the vast majority couldn't come to terms with what they'd done, and snapped, turning their guns on themselves. That he made it out of that program at all is remarkable on its own." Ozpin kept walking, leaving Glynda behind in the alleyway, shock and disgust obvious on her face when she looked back down the alleyway to the boy still staring at the business card with a small smile on his face.

...

 **Eight Years before the Battle of Beacon**

Alexander stood on an airship like he had so many times before. This time, however, much to his joy, he was on the airship without any nefarious or disagreeable purpose behind it.

He was just there to learn how to be a huntsman. He stood a couple inches shy of six feet tall, in a white waistcoat and matching pants tucked into black combat boots, in the typical dress fashion of Atlesian military, though he had gotten an orange flower surrounded by sunbursts stitched onto the back of his coat, as he had made a call to General Ironwood to get the outfit specially made. His brown hair, recently cut, was slicked back and hung just below his ears. On the side of each thigh was a holster, and each held one of an identical pair of compact pistols that Dr. Polendina had personally made, after Alexander's original weapons were destroyed years ago on a mission for Commander Vasilyevich.

He felt a slight jerk when the airship landing, a smile spreading across his face as he walked off the airship, looking around in awe at Beacon. He shoved his hands into his pockets and started walking towards the school, whistling slightly as he did so.

A hand on his shoulder as he walked surprised him, and, before he realized what was happening, he had grabbed the hand, spinning around it's owner, wrenching their thumb up between their shoulder blades while he started to pull one of his pistols out of its holster. Alexander quickly let go and stepped back when he realized what was going on, before his pistol cleared its holster. The other person straightened up, turning around to face Alexander.

In front of him stood a girl, roughly his age, and a couple inches shorter than he was. She had light brown skin, and light brown eyes with a small beauty mark below her left eye. Brown hair fell to just past her jawline, and bangs covered her forehead. She wore a white ruffled shirt with a brown corset and a strap that ran across her chest from her right shoulder to her left hip, and carried a couple of pouches, worn brown pants covered her legs and were tucked into brown boots that went up to just below her knee. When Alexander had let her go, her hand had dropped to her lower back, likely grabbing her weapon.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do it. You're not hurt or anything, right?" He said, putting his hands up in a placating gesture. She just stared at him for a long moment while she spun her arm around before nodding and huffing in annoyance.

"Jeez, try to get someone's attention and they freak out and try to kill you." She crossed her arms over her chest. Despite the tone she was using, and the aura she was trying to exude to make her seem intimidating, her lack of any real anger was clear in her eyes.

"Why were you trying to get my attention?" Alexander said, tilting his head in confusion. He honestly didn't know why someone would try to talk to him. After the Jaeger program was disbanded, he had been systematically shunned by everyone he met in Atlas, and hadn't had a real human conversation in months before Ozpin talked to him.

"Well, I've never been to Atlas personally, but from what I understand, the only people who wear clothes like that are officers of the Atlesian military. And well, I figured that anyone who had those clothes at the age of seventeen must have quite the story, and I like a good story." She said, smiling that held nothing but joy and masked no underlying intentions. An infectious smile that Alexander couldn't help but copy after a moment.

"By the way, name's Amber. Nice to meet you." She said, extending a hand towards Alexander. He smiled wider, reaching a hand out and shaking hers.

"I'm Alexander. It's nice to meet you too." They let go, hands dropping back to their sides, other students streaming past the duo.

"So, Alexander, how did you happen upon officer's clothes from the Atlesian military?" She asked, and the smile instantly dropped off of Alexander's face, his eyes hardening, and dropping to look at his shoes.

"I used to be the equivalent of an officer, even though, legally speaking, I was never a member of the military." He said, before raising his head to fix Amber with a stare that froze her in place, not out of fear for herself, but fear for the young man in front of her, whose eyes had aged centuries. "It's not something I'm particularly fond of talking about."

Amber just nodded her head, looking around at nothing in particular. "So, this campus is really incredible, isn't it? The architecture, and landscaping, and whatnot." She asked, watching a grateful smile tug at Alexander's lips as they enthusiastically dove into the change of subject on their way to the Welcoming Speech.

...

The next day, Alexander stood, arms crossed, and face devoid of emotion on top of a metal square with the Beacon insignia on it. Around him stood numerous other students in varying states of armament, though Alexander was the only one in the line that wore no form of armor. Ozpin gave a small speech about the dangers of the Emerald Forest and their objective to reach the temple to retrieve an artifact, a speech which Alexander largely ignored, picking up on the important bits of information that Ozpin was saying, until one specific line caused him to whip his head over to Ozpin and stare at him and shock.

"The first person you make eye contact with will be your partner for your entirety at this academy." A small smile tugged at the corner of Ozpin's lips.

"Be sure to choose wisely, and good luck." Ozpin watched with a glimmer of amusement as student after student was launched off into the air with varying degrees of coordination. Amber, several people to Alexander's left, braced herself before launching off into the air, her left forearm now covered by a silver bracer, and her brown boots had been traded out for gold boots that protected everything up to her knee.

Ozpin looked over at Alexander just before he launched off, his posture unchanged, and his eyes locked on Ozpin. Just before he launched, Ozpin saw his right foot shift back slightly, and bend at the knees to absorb some of the shock from the launch pad. Alexander flew through the air for a couple seconds before he flung his arms out to the side and spreading his legs in an attempt to slow himself down even slightly.

He flipped himself around in midair just before he reached the top of the trees, falling through leaves and branches feet first. On his way down, he threw his arms out, grabbing a thick branch, and transferred his momentum so he swung back up above the treeline, covering a lot of lateral ground in the process.

Falling back through the leaves, he fell a bit farther before grabbing another branch, swinging around it multiple times to disperse his momentum before dropping to the forest floor below him, landing in a crouch. He straightened up and started running forward, eyes blazing, on the lookout for anything that might be a temple or another student.

He ran for a minute or two before hearing something running through the underbrush off to his left. Jumping off to his right, he turned around to see several Boarbatusks running at him, though they looked less concerned with attacking him and more concerned with fleeing from whatever was behind them. Drawing his pistols, Alexander dropped each Grimm with a single shot to their eyes as they ran past in what, to him, seemed like slow motion.

He ran past the bodies of the Grimm, on the hunt for what caused the Grimm to run in fear, only to be thrown back into a tree by a massive gust of wind blasting through the forest. He fell to the ground and stood up, continuing in the same direction, ducking and twisting out of the way of branches and sticks that were crashing through the forest.

After fighting through blustering wind, he found himself on the edge of a clearing ringed with fire, bringing an arm up to shield his face from the heat. In the middle of the clearing stood Amber, her staff swinging around her body furiously, gouts of flame and blasts of wind alternating from the ends of her staff as she exterminated the pack of Beowolves that had been unfortunate enough to have been caught inside the fire with her.

Alexander pulled out one of his pistols with his right hand, quickly reloading it and swiftly putting a bullet through the head of every Beowolf he could hit, emptying the mag, and successfully taking down twelve of the Grimm. Amber spun her staff one last time, a massive blast of wind throwing the last Beowolf clean across the clearing to be impaled on a thick branch before it burned from the feet up.

Alexander stood, gun in hand while Amber went about putting out the fire that was threatening to spread with blasts of wind. When she was done, Alexander walked out, holstering his gun as he did so. She turned and locked eyes with him before walking over to him, her staff shortening before she put it back on her lower back.

"So, I guess this makes us partners." She said happily, smiling as she walked over. Alexander's face remained emotionless, though he was smiling internally, and he simply nodded before he turned to walk off into the forest, Amber following close behind.

"I suppose it does."

...

The temple in the forest stood crumbling, but largely untouched by the visitors and inhabitants of the forest, Grimm, human, and faunus alike. Alexander and Amber walked calmly out of the forest into what could only be described as abject chaos. Students were running back and forth, clutching what looked to be figurines of Grimm of all types.

Alexander and Amber stood in quiet shock for a long moment, long enough for another duo, both male, walk up beside them. One, a tall, thin, guy, standing at least a foot above Alexander, with buzzed black hair, pale green eyes, and dark skin that was largely unmarred except for a thick scar that stretched from just under his chin, and disappeared under the collar of his orange shirt with a top button that had been left unbuttoned. Slung across his back was a zanbato that perfectly matched his physique, in that the handle protruded over his right shoulder, and the tip of the unsheathed zanbato stuck out around his ankles that were covered, like the rest of his lower body, by dark blue pants that were creased down the front of each leg.

"I'm Quentin. Pleasure to meet you." He said, in a deep, rasping voice that he almost seemed to struggle with, as he extended his hand to Alexander, who took it and copied the greeting. The guy to Quentin's left looked slightly deranged, a manic glint to his gold eyes, and his wide smile just slightly crooked. Shiny blond hair that almost looked like gold spiked wildly and trailed down to his shoulder blades, and he held a sniper rifle that looked capable of felling a Goliath Grimm, as it was easily his height, and the barrel looked to be about as big around as one of Alexander's forearms.

"Uranus. I know, great to meet me." He said, in a calm and measured tenor that belied his outward appearance. His blue shirt with white dots that almost looked like stars was rumpled, untucked, and had four buttons unbuttoned. His black denim pants, nothing like Quentin's creased pants, were clearly well worn, and though they were slightly sagging, he wore several belts, all of which had pouch upon pouch of ammo strapped to them. He spun his rifle, and, moments later, held a sickle with a handle that reached just below his shoulder, and a blade that curved the rest of the way up and back down so the tip of the blade ended next to his temple to form what almost looked like a crescent moon.

"So, are we going to do this thing, or not? They're running out of statues over there." Uranus said, and Amber wordlessly walked off into the crowd, reappearing barely a minute later, holding two Goliath figurines, throwing one to Quentin, who caught it deftly before it even got within three feet of him.

"Sorry, these were the only two left." She said, before grabbing Alexander by the arm and walking off into the forest once more in search of the cliff they had to scale. Quentin and Uranus looked at each other, shrugging, before following closely behind.

They worked their way through several miles of dense forest and foliage before breaking into a clearing, and immediately regretting it. In the clearing stood a Death Stalker, surrounded by a Beowolf pack. Weapons were immediately drawn, Uranus spinning his sickle again so it transformed back into a sniper rifle and, with a quick pull of the trigger, and a massive crack that sounded like thunder, the fight began as a Beowolf's head simply ceased to exist.

Running forward, Alexander drew his pistols, firing shots into the crowd of Beowolves, watching with a satisfied smirk as several of them fell to the ground, missing parts of their heads. With little time to spare, Alexander's eyes flashed blue, glowing in the light of the setting sun, as he dropped to his knees and leaned backwards, sliding under a wild swipe from the Death Stalker, before getting his feet back under himself and flipping up and over the follow up from the other claw.

He ran forward again, spinning his pistols into escrima sticks and attaching them together. Another massive claw swung at Alexander and he, using his bo staff, vaulted himself up and over with a burst of lightning dust. He detached his escrima sticks and spun them so he could reload his pistols as he landed on the Death Stalker's shell in a slight crouch. He pointed the muzzles of his pistols down towards the armor of the Death Stalker's shell and unloaded the twelve shot magazines into the same spot on the armor, and succeeded in breaking through the armor, hitting the vulnerable flesh below with a shot, making the Death Stalker buck wildly into the air, throwing Alexander into the forest behind it.

Alexander stood up, running back around to the front of the Death Stalker to catch it's attention before it could go to attack anyone else. He reloaded and fired a shot at it's stinger just to pull its attention and almost immediately regretted it when that same stinger came stabbing down right where he was, barely moments before. He backed up slowly out of the stinger's range, firing a shot every couple seconds just to keep the Grimm's attention.

He fired several shots at the Death Stalker's shell, leaving no lasting damage. Looking around himself briefly, he saw Quentin slashing through several Beowolves at a time with his massive sword, down to just a coupe left. On the other side, Amber had burned down all the Beowolves she had to face, and was running to help him.

A crack of thunder echoed through the clearing again, and Alexander watched as a bullet gouged a trough along the Death Stalker's armor, but ultimately did little more than startle it. Running forward once more, Alexander dodged a stab from the tail, but the claws once again forced him to back up when they swiped wildly at him.

Amber stopped next to him, and Alexander could practically watch the gears in her head turning. She looked back and motioned for Uranus to shoot at the tail as Quentin walked calmly up to join the other two.

"Quentin, if Uranus puts a shot through the tail, do you think you can cut it off?" She asked, smirking slightly when Quentin just smiled and nodded confidently. "Alexander, what else can your pistols do?" He spun them in response and held his escrima sticks, the ends sparking with electricity.

"That'll work. You're going on a ride." She said, and spun her staff, launching Alexander high up into the air barely a moment later, as another crack of thunder bounced around the clearing, putting a massive hole through the Grimm's tail near the stinger. High up in the air, well above the treeline, and suppressing his surprise and fear, Alexander spread his arms as he reached the peak of his flight, before tucking them back in as he started to fall back down.

Quentin closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as he pulled his zanbato off his back. His eyes snapped back open when Alexander was halfway back down, and, with a huge windup, threw his sword spinning through the air to cut off the stinger. It was just barely starting to fall when Alexander came out of his flip, slamming the ends of his escrima sticks down onto the stinger, the lightning dust exploding violently, and sending the stinger down into and through the Death Stalker's head, digging into the dirt beneath it.

Alexander was thrown back, skidding along the ground to the edge of the clearing, his escrima sticks digging into the dirt to slow him down. He stood up after a moment, a little shakily, holding himself up with a hand on the tree next to him.

He looked up to see Quentin wrenching his zanbato from the trunk of the tree it was lodged in, leaving a sizable gouge in the bark of the wood. He put his sword back on his back, held in place by what Alexander assumed must be a fairly powerful magnet. Uranus walked over with a smile, his sniper rifle held across the back of his shoulders.

"We need to get back to Ozpin. We've spent too much time in this damned forest for my liking." Uranus said, looking at Quentin pointedly, who just nodded and followed him off into the forest.

"We should probably go with them. Don't want to get lost." Amber said, walking off into the forest, flanked by Alexander.

"Well, if we did get lost you could always launch me a thousand feet into the air to make sure we know where we're going." Alexander said, with just the barest hint of vaguely veiled annoyance and sarcasm.

"Hey, that was a perfectly viable strategy and you know it!" Amber yelled back at Alexander, starting a small exchange of bickering and joking that they enjoyed while they walked through the forest and up the cliff.

...

 **A/N: Hey all, hope you enjoyed the chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it, especially the second half. Can you guys guess where and how I drew inspiration for Alexander, both his name and his emblem? I'll give you a hint, he draws his name from two of history's greatest military leaders.**

 **What do you guys think about the two other OCs I made to round out team AQUA?**

 **Any feedback you guys give me is appreciated, and I love to see it in Reviews and PMs.**

 **Thanks to Bulba Fett for being my Beta for this story, and also a great guy to bounce my crazy, borderline ridiculous theories off of.**

 **Bulba Fett: Yes, thank the almighty me! *cough* yeah, that. :P**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: We do not own RWBY in any way. This is a fan written story, obviously, and all rights belong to Rooster Teeth Productions. Please support the official release.**

 **...**

Chapter 2: Secrets and Lies

...

"It's a basic truth of the human condition that everybody lies.

The only variable is about what.

The weird thing about telling someone they're

dying is it tends to focus their priorities.

You find out what matters to them.

What they're willing to die for.

What they're willing to lie for."

-Dr. Gregory House

 _House M.D._

 **Seven and a Half Years before the Battle of Beacon**

Team AQUA had been together for barely six months, about to enter their second semester at Beacon, and, although their teamwork was commendable in battle, and the team seemed to get along well, there was a distance between them that was almost tangible, and didn't exist for the other teams in their year. Recognizing this distance several months ago, Amber had tried to bring them closer together by talking about their past, where they grew up, any family they might have, and how they got chosen to come to Beacon.

That first attempt had failed for a couple reasons. One reason was, the second other members of the team started talking about their pasts, Alexander immediately clammed up, saying nothing at all. Other reasons were that both Uranus and Amber refused to talk about how they got accepted to Beacon, even though it was Amber's idea, and Quentin, in general, due to the scarring on his throat, found it difficult to say more than a couple sentences at a time before he had to stop and rest his throat for a couple minutes.

It was, however, not a complete failure, as AQUA learned that Quentin's scar was fairly recent, having received it less than a year before initiation in a fight with an Ursa, and that he had a single mother out in Mistral who he called every weekend when he was in private. Any questions about his father were met with a sad gaze, a shake of the head, and the raspy words, "I don't know. My mom said he died just before I was born."

AQUA also learned that Amber and Uranus both had two living parents, and that Amber had a little sister who was currently attending a combat school out in Mistral called Sanctum, the school that Amber had also attended, while the rest of her family lived close to the outskirts of Windpath. Uranus, apparently, was born in Vacuo, but long ago moved to Vale, and had an older brother named Saturn, who, according to Uranus, had died in an unavoidable accident.

Amber tried, several times over the course of their first semester, to get Alexander to open up, only for each attempt to fail, until, finally, their last week of their first semester, he finally said a bit about his life prior to Beacon. However, the only bits he spoke about were how, when he was 15, he found out he was an orphan, was legally emancipated, was given a house, and access to a bank account. A year later, he met Ozpin, who had found Alexander at the recommendation of a mutual friend, and he was given a chance to come to Beacon.

But none of their stories seemed truly genuine to anyone else on the team, but for Quentin's. Amber, as the team leader, felt it was her duty to get the rest of her team to open up, but, having spent the better part of the past semester trying and failing to do just that, she decided to ask for advice from the wisest person she knew.

So that was how, the day before classes started for the second semester, Amber stepped into the elevator that would take her up to Ozpin's office at the top of Beacon Tower. Infuriating elevator music played softly from speakers in the corners of the elevator as she rode up, and she checked multiple times during the ride that the only button hit had been for Ozpin's office, and that the ride truly was this long. Finally, after what seemed like the longest elevator ride of her life, the elevator stopped and the doors slid slowly open.

Amber jumped slightly when, while looking around the office, she heard a soft, "Damn." from off to her left. Turning her head, she found Ozpin, bending down in front of a coffee maker, his coffee mug empty next to it, and the pot empty as well. He eventually straightened up, admitting defeat to the contraption, before walking over to his desk, and hitting a button on his Scroll.

"Glynda, I seem to be out of water in my coffee maker, if you wouldn't mind bringing me up a full mug of coffee as well as some water, that would be simply fantastic." He said, before hitting the button again before Glynda could say anything in response, though she was likely fairly peeved. Looking up from his desk, he smiled softly at Amber as she walked across the office, the heels of her boots sending clicks rebounding off the walls.

"Ah, Amber, lovely to see you as always. How are you doing, how is your team settling into the second year dorms so far?" He asked, his comforting tone, as always, making her smile almost immediately, before she remembered why she was there, and her smile slowly fell.

"Professor, I know that people on my team are hiding things, lying to the rest of us, and I feel like I can't fully trust them when they don't trust us enough to tell us what they're hiding." Amber said, in a hurried tone. Ozpin sat there quietly for a while, just staring at Amber while she stood there, arms crossed, and looking very frustrated. He nodded and clasped his hands while he stared at her.

"But they are not the only ones hiding something, are they? Remember Amber, there are a great many things that people regret or do not like to think about, and some of their lack of transparency I'm sure comes from them not believing that you are being entirely honest with them. Be the leader I appointed you to be. Open up to them, and, in return, they just might open up themselves. And even if they don't, nothing has been lost." Ozpin said, giving her a small smile before he continued.

"Your audition, in a manner of speaking, is not something that you want to talk about, but if the members you speak of are who I'm thinking of, it is a small secret to release compared theirs. Not everyone has had the happiness and luck that you were blessed with, nor were they blessed with your abilities, and the chances that grew from them. Remember that when you speak to them, for the secrets they hide may not be ones you want to hear about. That's not to say that you should reveal anything more than you feel necessary." Ozpin's smile dropped as he spoke, looking deathly serious, and fixing Amber with a stare that made her freeze up. Not trusting her mouth to speak properly, Amber simply nodded and left the office in the same elevator she came up in.

...

Four weeks later, after their last class for the week, Amber finally gathered enough courage to pull her team together with the intent of finally learning everything there was to learn about Alexander and Uranus. So she brought her team to the roof of the dorms and stood quietly for a while while the three boys waited for her to speak.

"I wanted to clear the air. A while ago, I was not completely open with the three of you. When I said I had a little sister, that was, partially, a lie. I actually used to have two sisters. My youngest sister died about a year and a half ago when she was attacked by a group of Ursa." Amber took a long, shuddering breath.

"She had ran off into the woods to find some berries for lunch that day. By the time we heard the screams, and realized what was happening, it was too late. I lost it and took my rage out on the Ursa, burning every last one to a crisp." Amber's shoulders shook slightly as she spoke, and she got look in her eyes that said she wasn't really on the roof anymore. She shook her head after she focused back onto the roof.

"Anyway, a huntsman saw the fight, and recommended me to Ozpin, and, here I am, a year and a half later, on a roof with a team that I don't feel I truly know." Amber said, sadly, watching as the faces of her teammates fell in a combination of shame and sadness.

...

 **Amber's Flashback:**

Amber was out of her chair and out the back door moments after she heard the scream. She grabbed her staff from where it rested against the doorframe as she ran past, hoping against hope that what she assumed had happened hadn't actually happened. She followed the subsequent screams deeper into the forest, every step like lead, laden down with dread.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, but was likely barely thirty seconds, she found the Ursai standing over her sister, one with it's paw held above it's head, poised to strike. With a yell of rage, Amber swung her staff, activating the Wind Dust crystal at one end, and, in her rage, sent the Ursa flying through several trees before it finally stopped against a particularly thick trunk with a loud crunch, where it continued to lay as it slowly dissolved into smoke.

Amber, on instinct more than anything else, swiped her hand through the air and felt a burning sensation around her eyes as a lightning bolt shot down from what had, moments earlier, been a clear, cloudless day that was now replaced with swollen purple rain clouds. Two Ursa down, but three more still towered over the unmoving body of her sister.

Her staff forgotten, Amber slashed her had through the air again, and an arc of fire flew through the air, striking another Ursa, sending it flying through the air while it burned away to nothing. Two more swipes of her hands sent frozen leaves to buffet against the Ursa, causing them to slowly back up, growling as they did so. Another swipe of her hand had lightning arcing down once more from the sky to strike the Ursa, arcing between them until they burned down to ash.

Amber slowly drifted back down to the ground, not realizing that she had been floating. She slowly walked over to kneel next to the body of her sister, riddled with cuts and gashes, the ground beneath her soaked with blood. From the woods, emerged a man with grey hair, round spectacles, and a cane, flanked on each side by people she didn't recognize, one a woman with blonde hair, and the other a man with black hair, though she recognized Professor Ozpin instantly.

He walked over to kneel next to her, an arm wrapped around her shoulders while she quietly weeped. "I'm sorry, Amber, we were too slow. We couldn't get here in time." He said while she continued to cry, her hands soaked with her own sister's blood, and her green boots and white pants slowly getting stained from the soaking ground.

...

 **Back on the Roof:**

Alexander and Uranus stood, heads bowed in sadness and shame while they stood silent, waiting for Amber's hiccuping breaths slowly leveled out into her normal breathing pattern. Uranus raised his head slowly and took a deep breath, his eyes losing their manic glint, and his hands, normally jittery when they were out of combat, stilled.

"My family life is a bit of a mess. My older brother and I never got along, and even when I was young, I think he hated me. Since I was little, I was better than him in pretty much every practical class in our combat school. He was always infinitely smarter than I could ever be at engineering weapons, and the weapons he built and modifications he made to weapons always worked perfectly on the first try. But that wasn't good enough for him. He didn't want to be a weapons engineer. He wanted to be a Huntsman, he wanted to be the guy using the weapons other people made for him." Uranus's eyes hardened, his brow furrowing in anger.

"It didn't help that I was named after our dad, and he wasn't. All of it, to him, meant that I had stolen his destiny from him, that I had stolen his dream from him. So, when he found out that I had been accepted into Beacon a year ago, when a couple years earlier, he hadn't gotten in, he kinda lost it a bit." Uranus clenched his hands in anger.

"He disappeared for a month or so into the shop he had made in our backyard, getting down there before any of us woke up, and not coming back inside until late after we went to bed, didn't even come out for meals. When he finally showed back up in our house, he didn't look like himself anymore. He hadn't showered or taken care of himself at all, and he had lost a ton of weight, and generally looked terrible. But he looked happier than we had ever seen him."

...

 **Uranus's flashback:**

Saturn's hair, once a shining black that he pulled into a ponytail to keep out of his face while he worked on weapons, was free from the binding, and was a greasy, matted, rat's nest on his scalp. His glasses had slight cracks in each lens, and his eye's almost seemed to split down the crack. The wide confident grin he wore when he gave someone a weapon he had built was lopsided and seemed corrupt. His shirt and pants were stained with grease and oil, and torn in multiple places.

Uranus's father stood in front of Uranus and his mother, staring down their son who was holding an oversized sickle, clearly designed to kill Grimm rather than reap crops, the handle alone ending at his chest with the butt on the ground. Uranus's father opened his mouth to say something to his son who was clearly in distress only for nothing to come out when his head was suddenly separated from his shoulders in one clean swipe. Uranus's mother screamed in terror when Saturn brought the sickle back for another swipe, only to find his blade stopped by Uranus's own sickle, although Saturn's caused some cracks to form in Uranus's blade.

Uranus pushed hard away from him, sending Saturn's sickle away from him and his mother, before sprinting across the room to his older brother and swinging his sickle, watching in shock when his blade snapped against the handle of his brother's weapon. Undeterred, Uranus shook off his shock, and dropped low, sliding between his brother's legs. Despite being years younger, Uranus had always been better in a fight with his brother, provided he had a weapon. Whether or not his brother had one mattered little to Uranus.

He stood up and spun around, grabbing the handle of the sickle and pulling it up and back, yanking the sickle out of his brother's hand, and clipping Saturn on the chin at the same time, sending him to the ground. Uranus, off balance in his surprise at the weight of the sickle, stumbled back a few feet before he got his bearings again.

He straightened up in time to see Saturn charging at him, his face filled with rage. He growled and lunged, trying to make a grab for the sickle, and Uranus spun it around to deflect his grab and push his brother back, astounded when he stopped spinning the sickle and it had transformed into a massive sniper rifle. He swung it like a baseball bat when Saturn charged at him again, clipping Saturn on the temple and sending him spinning across the room, his aura flickering and shattering.

Uranus brought the rifle to bear, pointing it at his brother when he shakily got to his feet, and, in his anger, failed to notice that he, for the first time in the brief scuffle, should not be on the offensive. He ran forward much slower than before, swaying slightly, and got halfway across the room when Uranus pulled the trigger and the rifle gave off a loud crack like a clap of thunder. Uranus, for a brief moment, knew only pain, when the rifle slammed heavily against his shoulder, thanking any gods there may be that his aura could shield him from any real damage.

He lowered the rifle, and, for the first time, saw what his brother's greatest creation could do to someone. The high impact wind dust laced round had hit his brother in the stomach, before blowing a hole in the wall behind him when it continued through him. Uranus felt his dinner threaten to reappear when he looked at his brother's torso, which no longer existed between his armpits and his hips, leaving him in two pieces on the ground, and the walls behind and floor below basically painted with his blood and entrails.

He stood rooted in place in shock while he lowered the rifle slowly. His mother came over and grabbed him around his shoulders while she cried and he slowly sank to his knees on the floor, not realizing that he was crying until he felt his tears streaking down his cheeks.

He stayed there, silently crying and staring blankly ahead while the police burst in through the door and started asking his mother questions, the scream and gunshot having startled the neighbors enough that they called the authorities. Uranus did nothing but hold the rifle against his chest until an officer touched his shoulder.

Uranus, in a heartbeat, was on his feet, backing away from and pointing the rifle at the officer before he realized what was happening and lowered the weapon. The officer looked scared but quickly composed himself and started Uranus questions about what had happened in the house, questions which Uranus answered with a mechanical efficiency borne of lack of belief for what had just happened.

He and his mother didn't stay in that house more than a week after that, quickly moving across town to a small apartment over the restaurant where Uranus's mother worked as the manager.

...

"And that's it." Uranus said quietly. "I applied and got into Beacon normally after I graduated from Signal, but I lied about my dad and my brother. I guess I didn't want you guys to think that I was a coldblooded murderer." For the first time since Alexander met him, Uranus didn't look confident. In fact, he looked almost...scared.

Amber smiled sadly and hugged Uranus, making him jump in surprise. "We know you're not a murderer. And anyone cold blooded enough to purposefully kill someone couldn't possibly show remorse for what they've done." Alexander and Quentin both clapped a hand down on his shoulders comfortingly and Uranus smiled when he looked over at Quentin, but it quickly slid off his face when he looked at Alexander, who, while he normally looked fairly emotionless, was now stone faced, Amber's words circulating around his mind.

Before the rest of AQUA could move to stop him, Alexander was walking away, and only stopped when his hand was on the handle of the door and Amber yelled after him.

"Alexander, where are you going? You don't have to hide anything from us!" She said, walking over to him, flanked by Quentin and Uranus. If anyone could have seen his face, they would have noticed pinpricks of moisture at the corner of his eyes.

"There are people who hide things about their pasts from everyone they meet, who lie to avoid letting people know who they really are. There's nothing wrong with that, really, and most of what they hide is harmless. But there's also people who hide things not only from the rest of the world, but from themselves as well." His hand tightened on the handle of the door, and his eyes were noticeably wet to anyone able to see them.

"People like me don't want to remember what we've done, and we certainly don't want other people we know, that we care about, to know the atrocities we've committed, because we regret them so deeply. Killing one person can psychologically cripple a person for years. So what do you propose someone who's killed easily dozens does to deal with the guilt?!" He spun around, his face twisted in rage, while Amber was starting to look scared.

"I just wanted to move on, forget my past. That's why I came here. So I could become a Huntsman and finally do something good with my life." Alexander's voice became much softer.

"Few people want to actively talk about their past in this world, but I would be much happier ignoring my past. It's been working so far." Alexander turned and wrenched the door open, disappearing into the stairwell.

"Well that could have gone better." Said Professor Ozpin, flanked once more by Professor Goodwitch, though his ever present mug of coffee had been replaced with a large tablet. He gave the three of them soft smiles when they all swung around in shock.

"Although, I did expect it to go something like that when he heard your stories. Mr. Wallace has had an exceedingly difficult life, and he prefers to ignore the first fifteen years or so of his life, preferring to focus on what has happened since he came to Beacon. However, as it is in the best interests of your team as a whole, and it will cause less strife in the long run..." Ozpin said, before extending the tablet to Amber, who grabbed it and stared at the screen intently while it powered up.

"Any questions you have should be taken up with Mr. Wallace. Good day, children." Ozpin spun and turned on his heel, Goodwitch right behind him as they walked toward the edge of the roof. AQUA, however, was staring at the tablet, and by the time they looked up, Ozpin and Goodwitch had disappeared from the roof.

...

Ozpin and Goodwitch, many hours later, and easily after midnight, found Alexander on the floor of the training room, surrounded by a dozen of the school's training robots, which were really just decommissioned models of the Atlesian Knight. Realizing that any attempts to talk to him would be simply ignored, Ozpin and Goodwitch sat down in the closest row to the floor, and simply watched.

Alexander was standing dressed in sweatpants and a loose shirt, that were stained by sweat from hours of training, weapons holstered on his thighs, eyes closed, encircled by robots "Start." He said, his voice ringing out confidently and unwavering around the room as the robots jumped into action and his eyes snapped open.

He ducked the first lunge made by a robot behind him, spinning around and snapping a foot up, connecting solidly with it's chest and sending it flying into another robot. A metal fist was stopped inches from his face by his hand clenching around the metal wrist. He pulled and twisted hard, wrenching the metal forearm from the elbow socket before slinging it off to the side, hitting another robot in the face hard enough to knock it to the ground.

He pulled the robot he had disarmed in front of himself in time to take a metal fist to it's head, caving it in and shutting it down. Alexander pushed the robot off to the side, letting it fall to the ground as he charged forward at another robot. Ducking under a punch, he grabbed the kick it sent at his stomach, spun, and flipped the robot over his shoulder, slamming it against the floor.

Alexander dropped to his knees, grabbing the robot's head, and twisting, snapping the connection between the processors in the head and the rest of the body. He stood back up just in time to push a punch away from his face, before grabbing the fist and burying it in it's owner's face, and dropping his third robot so far.

Alexander turned to his left, where the robot he had kicked earlier was running at him with a partner. He ran back at them, blocking a punch with crossed forearms and wincing when a metal leg slammed against the one he brought up to block the kick.

He uncrossed his forearms, grabbing the back of the head of the robot who had tried to punch him, and slamming it into the other robot, smashing their faceplates. They backed up a couple steps, their faceplates sparking violently, before they charged again. A flurry of punches and kicks consumed Alexander's vision for a couple seconds all of which he blocked with minor difficulty, and were his only concern until he heard a metallic clank against the ground a couple meters behind him.

He waited a second or two longer until he grabbed one of the legs trying to kick him, and swinging the leg, and the robot connected to it, around behind him so they slammed into the robot coming up behind him. He turned to the robot still near him, ducking under a punch and slipping behind the robot, where he twisted and pulled the head off of the robot with a loud grunt.

Another robot ran up behind him, and in his anger, Alexander's semblance blazed, his eyes glowing angrily. He spun around, watching as, for the next few seconds, the robot tried its damndest to land a punch on Alexander, only for him to move just out of the way at the last possible moment. Alexander grabbed a kick the robot aimed at him, and kicked the robot away, still holding the leg, and ripping it out of it's socket. Barely a second passed before the unfortunate robot was reunited with his leg, however, when Alexander swung it down to crush the robot's head.

The remaining eight robots formed a rough circle around Alexander once more, before closing in on him in one movement. Alexander's eyes blazed even brighter, and his fingers and toes started to tingle slightly as they slowly began to lose feeling when time slowed to a crawl. Even Alexander himself seemed to be moving slowly, albeit faster than the robots around him.

He reached up, grabbing a faceplate, before spinning and slamming the robot's head into the ground, as hard as he could, the head breaking apart in slow motion to Alexander as he slowly moved onto his next victim. He turned and pushed a robot into another, sending them away from him with their change in momentum.

Alexander ducked under an outstretched robotic hand, flipping the robot on it's back and slamming his foot against it's head as the tingling slowly progressed through his hands and feet. A sharp pain from his eyes brought everything back to what was normal speed for Alexander, which was, granted, still slower than how other people observed time.

Alexander stumbled forward, wincing when a robot was able to quickly change directions and land a solid punch to the back of his head. He growled angrily and turned around, putting his fist through the robot's faceplate, before pulling out a heavily lacerated fist that was knitting itself back together slowly due to his aura.

Alexander winced again when he felt the tingling disappear from his hands and feet, and feeling returned to them as his aura fixed the overloaded nerves. He ducked under a couple more punches and kicks, putting down three more robots.

The last two charged at him once again, and Alexander brought his hands up, wincing when he aggravated the barely healed cuts on his hand. The robots reached him a moment later and he ducked around the punches they sent at him, before dropping low and extending a leg, spinning around to sweep one robot off it's feet. He stood up, and, before the robot could recover, slammed a foot down on it's head, receiving a metal foot in his ribs in exchange.

He turned quickly, grabbing the metal foot and pulling, bringing the robot towards him. Alexander brought a foot up and down, hard, axe kicking the robot in the torso, and forcing it to slam down onto the ground. He brought his foot back up and slammed it down on the last robot's head, smashing it before he started walking away, breathing heavily, while a machine sweeped the robot parts off the floor into a hole in the floor that closed after the last was collected.

Ozpin and Goodwitch followed him to the locker room, where he was putting his pistols in his locker and drinking from a water bottle. "An admirably fought bout, Mr. Wallace, though perhaps next time you should reel in your emotions so that you don't lose control of yourself and accidently overclock your semblance. I also would advise against training after midnight, your body _does_ have limits after all, Mr. Wallace." Ozpin said, in his typical emotionally ambiguous tone.

"I'll do my best moving forward, Headmaster." Alexander said, flexing his hands to ensure he hadn't done any irreparable damage to his nerves when he boosted his semblance with his aura. "Though it is quite hard when my semblance is so closely tied to everything about me. Especially since I need to use it more so I can both learn my limits with it and hopefully push those limits back."

Ozpin nodded slowly, watching Alexander carefully as he stepped out of sight to change and returned garbed in his modified Atlesian military dress whites. Ozpin let the boy stare at him inquisitively for a couple moments, collecting his thoughts and planning what he was going to say carefully before he even opened his mouth.

"I gave your team limited access to your military file. They aren't able to read mission reports, nor will they be able to learn the objectives of your missions, but they will know much about your time in the Jaeger Program, and the program as a whole." Alexander opened his mouth to protest, but Ozpin raised a hand, silencing the boy before he could say anything.

"Not many specifics, mostly just generalizations and reports that were recovered from the facility that don't go into too much gruesome detail, but they will get the idea, and will be able to make some intuitive leaps. One number that I didn't censor in specific is your kill count. Amber is particularly rigid in her views about killing humans, and I left it in the hopes that it would help her realize that she can't afford to see the world in black and white for much longer." Ozpin said, watching Alexander carefully, waiting for the boy to do something, anything in response to the news.

Alexander stood quietly for a couple seconds, mulling over what the headmaster had told him before he clenched his jaw. "I didn't want them to find out this way, if ever." He said, looking the headmaster dead in the eyes to find sympathy written across Ozpin's face, subtle though the indicators were.

"I'm sorry. I hope to see you in better spirits on Monday, Mr. Wallace." Ozpin said, before he turned and left, Goodwitch following close behind, shooting a glance back at the teenager to see him standing completely still, staring at the ground. She frowned, wondering, not for the first time, nor would it be the last, if Ozpin had truly made the best call.

...

Well after midnight, Alexander slowly opened the door to his team's dorm open, the only light in the room coming from the window, until, off to his right, Amber turned on a desk lamp, bathing her face in a slight yellow hue, highlighting the fatigue written across her face. Alexander closed the door and quickly looked around the room, noting that Uranus and Quentin were already asleep.

Amber motioned to a chair across from her that Alexander settled into after a moment of hesitation. They each sat there, silently, until Alexander noticed her eyelids drooping slightly.

"You should be in bed. I know we don't have classes tomorrow, but that doesn't mean you should stay up into the wee hours of the morning just so you can talk to your partner." Alexander said, looking more intently at Amber, noting the frequent blinking to hide the drooping eyelids, and the swallowing to try to hide her yawns.

"You should be in bed too. Look at that, we're both being irresponsible. Isn't that nifty?" She retorted with feigned enthusiasm. She stifled another yawn, her eyes closing briefly while Alexander sat silently for a long moment.

"Why'd you stay up? Any conversation we have could wait until tomorrow." Alexander asked, eyes staring at Amber, searching her face for something, anything, that would clue him into what she was thinking.

"I couldn't fall asleep. I tried. But I couldn't fall asleep." She paused, and sighed heavily. "I feel like I don't know you. Were you ever planning on telling us?"

"No. I fully intended on never having to tell anyone about my life before Beacon. I wanted it sealed away into Atlesian archives, in the past, where I hoped it would have stay. You knowing about my life doesn't have to change anything unless you let it. I'm still the same person you know, and that hasn't changed, and will only change for the better if I have any say in the matter." Alexander replied, looking her dead in the eye.

"My past isn't what defines me. What I do and have done since I came to Beacon and you met me is what should matter to you. Everything before that is irrelevant." He stood up, walking off into the bathroom to shower and change for bed, leaving Amber behind with her thoughts.

As he spoke, Amber realized two things. The first being that he was right, this didn't have to, nor should it, impact the way she viewed him. He was still her teammate, and her partner, someone she trusted greatly, and someone Ozpin obviously trusted enough to let into his Academy.

The second thing she realized was that, while he was directing what he said at her, he was talking more to himself than her, and, in that moment, realized exactly what his past was to him. It wasn't something he was ignoring, no, it was something that Alexander had already made peace with, moving past it and learning all he could from it, even if he had only just made peace with his past that night.

So, when he came out of the bathroom a couple minutes later after a short shower and changing, she only asked him one question, something that had been burning in her mind since she read his file.

"Alexander, do you remember how many people you've killed?" Amber blurted the question out before she had really realized what she was saying, and he froze in place next to his bed. He stood silently for a long couple of seconds, making Amber squirm a bit, regretting asking the question.

"No." He replied, and Amber jumped slightly in shock when he finally spoke. "I don't know the number. Keeping count only tortured me, and I stopped keeping track, so that I didn't do _their_ work for them." Amber opened her mouth to say something, but thought better of it, and decided to hear Alexander out.

"But I remember every single one. And I embrace the sadness I feel when I remember them, because I know it means they didn't succeed, that they couldn't make me into an emotionless assassin." Alexander took a long, shuddering breath, before he got into bed and pulled the covers up.

Amber waited a couple minutes until she heard his breathing even out, indicating that he had fallen asleep. She walked over to her bed after turning off the light, looking over at Alexander's bed, something still nagging at her in the back of her head.

"It was 39. 39 kills confirmed by the Atlesian military." She said, jumping slightly when his breath hitched slightly before evening back out. Amber went to sleep, her mind settled, for the time being.

...

The next week or so was difficult for team AQUA, their teamwork had taken a steep dive, and though they were still skilled enough to succeed in their boughts against other teams in their year, they found themselves getting in each other's way occasionally. One particular bought found Alexander in a situation he was not unaccustomed to by this point in the week.

His teammates, through poor communication, and just generally having a bad day, had been eliminated. Amber had accidentally thrown Uranus and Quentin out of the ring when her opponent dodged one of her gusts of wind, and, in her momentary surprise, had found herself outside the ring moments later.

So, Alexander stood, surrounded by an entire team, alone. His head constantly on a swivel, Alexander did his best to predict what the team would do. Behind him was a lanky guy, an inch or two taller than Alexander, named Pausanias wearing mostly leather, and faster on his feet, though Alexander could easily overpower him if he used his semblance. By far the most dangerous thing about him were his two daggers that literally hummed quietly from the amount of wind dust on the blades.

In front of Alexander, slightly to his left, stood a massive brute, named Roland decked head to toe in steel armor that, Alexander had learned the hard way, could stop his pistol rounds. He had a battle axe that was taller than Alexander by easily a foot, and had blades that were about as wide and long as Alexander's torso. Alexander would watch him carefully, since that battle axe had been thrown at him several times already this year, only for it to loop around and return to the brute after it hit or missed it's target.

In front of Alexander, and slightly to the right, stood a girl with a taunting smirk, about an inch or two shorter than Alexander, her long curly blonde hair falling wildly around her head and shoulders. Her name was Lily, and she wore metal vambraces, breastplate, greaves, and boots, with a leather combat skirt. In her right hand, she held a longsword that had a barrel down the center of the blade, letting her fire dust rounds out of the sword when she thrusted it forward, though she preferred to use the sword as it was intended, with dust coating the blade, up close and personal.

Lastly, directly in front of Alexander, and well behind her two teammates, was their resident archer, Ianthe, leader of team IPRL (Imperial). She could easily nock and fire two separate arrows three seconds apart, a terrifying feat. Like her teammate Pausanias, she wore light clothing, though she preferred cloth over leather, the only leather on her in the form of vambraces. Her bow, a recurve oddly made of metal, could, in a pinch, be straightened out to form two short swords.

For the moment, however, her arrow was pointed directly at Alexander's forehead, at full draw, waiting for him to move. The arrow was not made of metal or wood, or even glass, but was rather Ianthe's semblance, which allowed her to manifest her aura in the form of a solid arrow that traveled at eye watering speeds. Alexander slowly closed his eyes, dropping into a crouch, waiting for IPRL to make their move.

Eventually, they did. Pausanias ran at Alexander from behind, his semblance eliminating any sounds coming from his boots and clothes as he ran, but he couldn't hide the slight humming from his daggers. He jumped, bringing his daggers down in reverse grips, with the intention of skewering Alexander through the back.

At the last moment, Alexander dove forward and to the left, rolling and charging at Roland, who stood unmoving but to heft his axe in preparation. Roland swung his axe horizontally and Alexander, instead of ducking, jumped up, planting a foot on the axe head and propelling himself up higher to kick Roland in the face as he sailed over his head, while also dodging Ianthe's arrow that cut through the air below Roland's axe.

Alexander started a mental countdown to Ianthe's next shot as he landed behind Roland, and started running at Ianthe. Lily jumped in his path however, and he had to do duck to avoid being decapitated. As it was, since his semblance wasn't active, Alexander felt the wind from her blade ruffling his hair.

'1' he thought, punching Lily's right bicep, throwing her sword arm off to the side, taking her weapon with it. He followed it up with a left hook that caught her on the chin, and, had it not been for her aura, would have dropped her like a sack of potatoes. As it was, she still stumbled back a foot or two, giving Alexander all the space he needed to turn and sprint at Ianthe again.

'2' he counted, as he threw himself to the side to dodge a dust round flying at him from behind, courtesy of Lily, but wasn't as fast as he would have liked, and he felt the round tug at his coat near his shoulder as he dodged. He flipped over onto his back just in time to see Pausanias descending on him once again, daggers aimed at Alexander's chest. Alexander rolled over and popped to a crouch in between Pausanias and Ianthe just as she loosed her second arrow.

'3. Dammit, too slow.' Alexander dived to the side again, rolling and coming up in a crouch just in time to see the arrow hit Pausanias and explode, throwing him across the ring, groaning. 'Well, that was fortunate.' Alexander thought, continuing his rush at Ianthe.

Ianthe separated her bow, and it straightened out into her swords, prompting Alexander to draw his escrima sticks, which he attached together to make a bo staff. Ianthe swung a sword at Alexander, and he batted it off to the side, throwing her off balance long enough for him to land a hit to her ribs and a follow up to her chin, cracks echoing through the room when his staff impacted her aura.

Ianthe took a step back, and Alexander felt a pit settle in his stomach when he heard the telltale keening of a longsword as Lily swung it at the back of his head. He ducked, spun, and swung his bo staff, his eyes glowing for the first time this match. The end of his staff cracked against her aura around her ribs, causing her to stumble back just long enough for him to disassemble his bo staff and hit her several times around her sword arm and ribs with his escrima sticks, until Roland put his shoulder in Alexander's side, painfully throwing him away from Lily.

Alexander stood back up, his teeth clenched and his eyes glowing angrily. He spun one of his escrima sticks so it transformed back into a pistol and spun around, having heard Pausanias come up behind him. He caught Pausanias's swing on his escrima stick before brutally kicking his ankles out from under him. Alexander looked up at the board, and, seeing that Pausanias was still around 30% aura left, fired a round into his stomach.

Pausanias's aura took the brunt of the shot, and it immediately depleted him down to 14% aura, and likely gave him a bruise that would persist for a couple days, even with his aura. Alexander turned around in time to see Roland charging at him, axe brought back to swing in sync with Lily, both barely a meter from Alexander. Far behind them once again, Ianthe brought back another arrow to fire at Alexander, should he make it past her teammates.

Alexander spun his pistol, so he held two escrima sticks once again, ducking under Roland's swing and slamming the ends of his escrima sticks into Roland's breastplate. The lightning dust exploded with a vengeance, the electricity arcing through Roland's suit of armor. Momentarily incapacitated, Roland was helpless to stop Alexander from throwing him in front of his teammate's arrow, and took it straight to the breastplate, knocking him flat on his back.

Alexander felt a gash open up on his back from Lily's slash, and he turned around angrily, his aura already stitching together the wound. His lips pulled back in a snarl, his eyes blazing furiously, would have scared any normal person enough that they would run away. Lily, however, just smiled and swung again.

This time, Alexander caught the sword on his crossed escrima sticks and pushed the blade off to the side. This, however, only gave Lily momentum to spin around and swipe wildly at him again with even more force, making him take a step back. A second later, Alexander was ducking under Ianthe's short sword while Roland slowly lumbered to his feet, his aura depleted to 40% by the two attacks.

Alexander straightened back up, and deflected Lily's sword off one escrima stick and stepped into her guard, smacking the other escrima stick against her ribs once again, before bringing the escrima stick around and hitting her other ribs, forcing her back a couple steps as her breathing grew labored and she dropped to her knees, wheezing slightly when her aura dropped to 10%, and struggled to heal the cumulative damage she had sustained over the fight.

Alexander turned just in time to feel Ianthe's short sword glance off his aura around his chest, and he stepped forward, smacking her outstretched arm with his escrima sticks before he spun one, the barrel inches from Ianthe, and put a round into her chest, her aura taking the impact as she was in the air for a good second before slamming her back against the training room floor.

Alexander felt Roland slam his axe into his back, catching on his aura, and throwing him clear across the training room floor. Alexander straightened up painfully, and checked his aura, clicking his tongue angrily when he saw it had dropped to 60%. Alexander watched as Roland lumbered toward him, and waited.

When Roland brought his axe back, Alexander dashed in close to his chest, and slammed his escrima sticks against his breastplate again, with similar results, though this time Roland didn't move. This time, however, Roland let go of his axe with one hand, and grabbed Alexander around the throat, slamming him against the floor hard enough to make a crater. Alexander lay stunned while Roland brought his axe down to finish the bought.

At the last second, Alexander rolled to the side and slammed his escrima sticks into Roland's armor one last time, making him collapse to the ground. Taking a deep breath, Alexander's eyes blazed even brighter, and he easily sidestepped the arrow Ianthe let loose at him.

Alexander charged forward, holstering his escrima sticks, and slapped Ianthe's arms away from her torso, taking her swords with them. Never one to drag things out unnecessarily, Alexander planted a fist in Ianthe's stomach and stepped back, letting her collapse to the ground. He turned around to check his aura levels on the screen, saw that his aura had dropped to 30% just from Roland's two hits, and made a quick mental note to never let Roland touch him ever again before he slowly walked off the training room floor towards the locker room.

...

Alexander walked into the locker room in a rage. Unable to find a suitable outlet for his anger at his own team, he settled for slamming his fist against the solid cinder block wall, but didn't bring up his aura to protect his hand, and as a result, a loud crack resounded through the room when he broke several bones in his hand, leaving behind a crater in the wall.

He pulled his hand back, small blood stains on the wall from his split knuckles, blood running down his fingers as his aura set and healed the broken bones before stitching back together his knuckles. He wiped the blood off his knuckles with a wet paper towel that Quentin handed him and threw the towel in the trash bin.

"So what the fuck happened back there? Why was I staring down the entirety of IPRL like, one minute into the match? We've never dropped three people against them before" Alexander opened up his locker and put his escrima sticks inside before slamming the door shut, and turning around. His anger melted away the second he turned around and saw the other three looking, frankly, terrible, their faces awash with shame and disappointment.

"Ah, shit, look, I don't want you guys to feel too bad. We still won, we just have to start talking again in our fights. Nobody should feel like they're alone in their fight. If you need help, just speak up, it's not a big deal. We just need to remember how to fight as a team again, and hopefully this will only make us better in the long run." Alexander said, watching his teammates carefully. Amber sullenly nodded, as did Uranus and Quentin, who walked off a moment later.

Amber stuck around, head lowered and hands playing with the bottom of her shirt. "Why does it feel like you sometimes lead the team better than me?" Amber asked, then whispering to herself, "Did Ozpin make the right choice?"

Alexander stood silently for a while until Amber looked up at him questioningly. "Oh, you were actually asking me a question. I'm sorry, it was such a stupid question I thought you were being rhetorical." He said, internally smiling when Amber immediately looked indignant. He raised his hands placatingly before he spoke again.

"I'm kidding. Look, I don't know why Ozpin made you the leader, but I know he made the right choice. None of us would be a good leader except for you. I lose myself in the fight, and can get tunnel vision really easily, ignoring everything but the person I'm currently fighting, Quentin can't speak louder than casual conversation, and Uranus, well, you know how he gets when he's fighting someone up close. But, just because you're our team leader doesn't mean that you have to be the best at everything, and know what to do all the time." Amber hung on his every word, her eyes staring into his soul.

"For example, if I was having troubles with my weapons not working properly, be it in the field or in a spar, I would ask Uranus. He won't admit it, because he's constantly measuring himself up to his brother, even after what Saturn did, but Uranus is one of the best weaponsmiths I have ever met, and I've met the entirety of Atlas's military R&D department." Amber slowly nodded, starting to understand the point Alexander was trying to make.

"You don't need to do everything. Do what you can do, and point us in the right direction so we can make up for your weaknesses. That's why we're on a team, so we can make up for each other's failings." Alexander finished talking, and was surprised moments later when Amber threw her arms around him thanking him profusely before running off, leaving a very confused, and slightly flustered, teenager behind, scratching his head.

...

Alexander walked into his team's room, his pistols holstered on his thighs, having retrieved them from his locker after he changed into his uniform. Just like every day after they sparred, Alexander pulled a rolled up foam mat from under his bed, unrolling it on his desk, looking up to see Quentin quietly reading at the desk next to him, Uranus and Amber presumably out getting something to eat.

Alexander slowly started disassembling one of his pistols, carefully keeping track of every piece and where he put it. Once it was completely disassembled, Alexander pulled out a couple brushes, some swabs, and a bottle of lubricating oil, and went about the careful project of cleaning the pieces of his weapon. As he was cleaning, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Quentin had put his book down on his desk and was watching Alexander.

It wasn't until Alexander started assembling his gun that Quentin spoke in his typical rasp. "Why did you come to Beacon? Your file noted that you, at least for the time being, turned down a potential position as the youngest Specialist in Atlesian history." He watched Alexander carefully as he continued to assemble his gun in silence until he finished, checking the slide, and spinning it two times to check that the transformation was still working. Alexander nodded contentedly, holstering that pistol and placing the other on the mat.

"I never wanted to be a Specialist. Simple as that. I grew up training, and believing that the training was so that I could learn to be a Huntsman. That belief let me wholeheartedly embrace my training, and it was that belief that helped me when the training got more painful, more tortuous. I'm here, learning to be a Huntsman, Quentin, because there is no other place that I would rather be." Alexander said, starting to disassemble his second pistol before he paused.

"Why do you want to become a Huntsman, Quentin? What brought you here?" He asked, placing his firearm down on the mat, and turning to face Quentin, who took a long drink of water when he finished talking.

"My mother wanted me to be a merchant, or a shop owner, or something safe like that, maybe a blacksmith, make things for people around town, some bullshit job that was safe." Quentin paused to shake his head slowly. "Then, one day, I watched a shop owner get beaten by some of the lowlife criminals that Mistral is famous for. I couldn't just let that happen. So, the next year, I enrolled in Sanctum Academy after convincing my mother that it was what I really wanted to do, what I was meant to do."

Quentin was silent for a minute or so, taking another drink of water. "I just want to help the little guy, the helpless shopkeep, the merchant who figured just going down the street doesn't warrant him bringing a weapon, because gods know that the Mistrali police won't do a damned thing. I figured, when get out of here, and if I can help even one person, it was worth it." He paused again, though this time it was to collect himself, reign in his emotions.

"That's why I'm here. So I can help people who don't think anyone will help them, human and faunus alike." He said, jerking up slightly in surprise when Alexander laughed, though it didn't feel mocking or derisive.

"That's as good a reason as any, and any reason someone like you has is damn good!" Alexander said, making Quentin smile and turn back to his book, the room descending into a comfortable silence, only the occasional sound coming from Alexander as he resumed cleaning his weapon.

He had just finished when Uranus practically fell through the door in excitement. "You guys gotta come quick, some second years tried to pick on Amber at the end of the hall! Let's go help her kick the shit out of them!" Alexander and Quentin looked at each other and shrugged before jumping up and sprinting out the door, Uranus closing the door behind them.

...

They reached the end of the hall, a crowd already gathering, mostly of first and second years though there were some third years in the mix as well. The crowd split around the three boys, most immediately recognizing them as Amber's teammates. They emerged from the crowd behind Amber, the other students making an impromptu combat circle.

The team across from them was one that Alexander didn't recognize, but what drew his attention was the fact that they all looked fairly similar, though they didn't have the same hair color, they were all built similarly, as all four of them were girls, taller than Amber by a fair margin, and slimmer. One had neon blue hair, another had dark green, the third had vibrant red, and the fourth had bright blonde hair.

"So, why are they fighting?" Alexander asked, whispering out of the corner of his mouth to Uranus, who just shrugged.

"Beats me. One second, Amber was walking next to me, the next she's squaring up across from these four." Uranus whispered back.

"That one was saying that I shouldn't have gotten into Beacon, much less been made a team leader." Amber said, pointing at the girl with neon blue hair, who simply smirked, to which Amber narrowed her eyes slightly, her lip pulled into a snarl. "You three don't need to be here. I can handle these twigs myself."

Alexander and the other two started to look a little worried, and the girl with neon blue hair spoke up. "Did you really just try to make fun of us for being skinny?" She asked, laughing derisively.

"No, I was insinuating that you were as dumb as a stick, but I suppose a stick wouldn't understand when someone was mocking it." Amber said, crossing her arms angrily, and smiling internally when the girls looked legitimately affronted.

"Would it be wrong to hit them, because of chivalry and whatnot, or would it be sexist not to hit them. I'm in a bit of a moral bind right now." Alexander asked Uranus, who opened his mouth to reply, before closing it, mulling over the question for a long moment before shrugging.

"I say we beat the hell out of them anyway, and deal with the consequences later." He said, smiling just wide enough to make people uncomfortable.

"That's your solution to most everything." Quentin droned, almost drowned out by what had devolved into a screaming fest between Amber and the girl with neon blue hair.

"Hasn't steered me wrong yet." Uranus said, cracking his knuckles menacingly while he stared down the girl with blonde hair.

"Oh well, if this is happening, might as well do it as a team." Alexander said, rolling his shoulders and bringing his fists up, eyes flitting from girl to girl as he looked at the team across from them.

"As you said, might as well." Quentin said, settling into a stance that reminded Alexander of Vacuoan Krav Maga. Amber, evidently done with her screaming match, was smiling disconcertingly at the girl with neon blue hair.

"Stay back boys, this is mine. Only step in if I start losing." Amber said, running forward, fist back, but stopped a foot from the girl with neon blue hair when Goodwitch's voice echoed down the hall.

"That is quite enough, children. Break this up right now." She said, cracking her riding crop, and an invisible force threw Amber back to her team, who caught her so she didn't fall. Goodwitch gave the other team a hard stare, and the four girls left in a huff, the crowd breaking up and heading back to their respective dorms. AQUA stayed in the hallway, Goodwitch's disapproving gaze locking them in place.

Once the other students had left, however, Goodwitch's eyes softened. "Boys, I would like a moment alone with Amber. You should head back to your dorm." She said, and Alexander nodded uneasily, turning to leave with Uranus and Quentin flanking him.

When the boys were far enough away, Goodwitch turned with sympathetic eyes to Amber. "Amber, you can't keep picking fights with people who anger you. I understand that you feel like you have to prove something to them, but the only person you need to prove something to is yourself. Ozpin, your parents, and I all know that you will do great things. Keep that in mind, alright?" Amber nodded in response to Goodwitch's question, making the blonde woman smile slightly. Goodwitch looked around, making sure nobody could see them, and then pulled Amber in for a quick hug, surprising the teen, who barely had time to hug Goodwitch back before she pulled away.

Amber's smile threatened to split her face after that. She had looked up to Goodwitch as an idol, the perfect example of everything Amber wanted to be one day. Goodwitch and Amber split after that, Amber heading back to her dorm, where she was greeted by three teenage boys, who, though they were careful to look as emotionless as possible, could not hide the subtle hints of worry for their team leader.

"It's fine, guys, nothing bad's going to happen. I didn't get in trouble or anything." Amber was happy with the concern her team showed for her, and her smile persisted. After a beat, their looks of worry were replaced with relief. They spent the night joking around, the rift that had formed between the teammates slowly closing as the night went on.

...

 **A/N: Hey everyone, thanks so much for the reception I got from the first chapter. Hope you enjoyed the second chapter of this story, be on the lookout for the next one, we'll be seeing some very familiar faces once the Vytal Festival gets underway.**

 **Thanks once again to Bulba Fett, my friendo and the beta for this story, check out his profile if you're fans of Naruto, he's got some good stories.**

 **Bulba Fett: PRAISE ME MORTAL! :D**

 **Speaking of Naruto, those of you who read my other story,** _ **Some Call it Divine Intervention,**_ **chapter 15 will be out soon, I promise, I just got hit really hard by some writer's block for that story.**

 **See you all some other time!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: We do not own RWBY in any way. This is a fan written story, obviously, and all rights belong to Rooster Teeth Productions. Please support the official release.**

…

Chapter 3: A Vytal Adventure (?)

…

"I hold it true, whate'er may befall;

I feel it when I sorrow most;

'Tis better to have loved and lost

Than to have never loved at all."

 _In Memoriam A.H.H._

-Lord Alfred Tennyson

 **Seven Years and Three Months before the Battle of Beacon**

The Vytal Festival, once again, had made it's triumphant return to Vale, before it would tour the rest of the world for the next six years, the festival coming every other year, making this the 36th Festival. But that was the last thing on the minds of team AQUA as they followed the throngs of other students through the hallways, noticing the conservative black clothing of the Haven uniform, the casual clothing of the students from Shade in Vacuo, and the grey and white militaristic uniforms from Atlas.

Since they had arrived a month ago, already a number of Atlesian students had come up to Alexander, when he wasn't wearing his school uniform, with questions, expecting him to turn around and be one of their escorts that Ironwood sent with them, only for them to be disappointed and confused when they found a teenager wearing the uniform of an Atlesian Specialist, albeit with some small changes, like the lack of tails on the coat, and the emblem on the back of the coat. Amber and Uranus laughed uproariously every time it happened, and even the ever stoic Quentin would let a small smile grace his lips, further confusing the Atlesian students.

Today, as they entered a massive auditorium, instead of mingling like they normally would, the students were split up by school to stand while Ozpin slowly walked out, the hard soles of his shoes and his cane clicking against the floor of the stage, echoing imposingly around the room. Ozpin stood, as stoic as ever, and dead silent for a minute or so, despite the fact that all the students had long since fallen silent.

"We stand together, students from all four kingdoms, Vacuo, Vale, Atlas, and Mistral, united in our 72 years ago, humanity fought the worst war it has ever known, still referred to this day as the 'Great War'. It was a war fought for innumerable reasons, though chief among them was the concept of individualism and the right to self expression. It was a terrible conflict, turning family members and friends against each other, and because of all the tragedy and death it caused, humanity celebrates this great day, this day of peace, when the four nations came together on the island of Vytal to bring an end to the bloodshed. It is also on this day, while the rest of the world celebrates, that Huntsman and Huntresses remain ever vigilant." Ozpin paused as screens rose up all around the room, some students looking around in surprise at the sudden appearances.

"As first year students, you will be shadowing a fully fledged Huntsman or Huntress on their mission. Some of your missions may take you as far as the other kingdoms, other missions won't even leave the city of Vale. Some of you may find yourselves gone for a month on a single mission, others missions may not even last until the end of next week. But you all will do your very best, and learn all you can from whomever you will be shadowing. Good luck, and, as always, good hunting." Ozpin turned and walked off stage, leaving behind an auditorium that was eerily silent for a few moments before exploding into a mess of chatter.

Amber jumped in surprise when a hand landed on her shoulder. When she looked over, it was to see Goodwitch, her face a mask, but her eyes glittering with pride and amusement. She motioned for Amber to follow her, Quentin, Uranus, and Alexander not far behind them. Goodwitch led AQUA through the winding hallways until they reached one of the elevators that Amber recognized as leading up to Ozpin's office.

Amber and Goodwitch stepped in, unsurprisingly, with ease, while the three boys stepped in cautiously, apprehension and confusion written across their face. It was a quiet ride, and Amber made a mental note to thank Goodwitch at another time for finally getting rid of that accursed elevator music that used to play. It would have only made the whole thing even more uncomfortable.

AQUA and Goodwitch stepped out of the elevator to Ozpin's office, bathed in pale green light, and noticeably lacking in their Headmaster's presence. Quentin, Uranus, and Alexander looked around the room with apprehension, wondering why they had been brought here.

After a minute or so of waiting, Ozpin stepped out of an elevator, coffee mug in one hand, cane in the other. When he saw AQUA waiting with Goodwitch, he gave a small smile as he walked across his office and settled into his chair.

"I'm sure you have many questions, and I would like to dispel one of your worries. None of you did anything wrong. In fact, rather the opposite. You four have, despite your stumbling blocks, cemented yourselves at the top of your class, and because of that, have been given an opportunity that very few before you have been given." Ozpin paused to take a sip of coffee, laughing internally at the looks of confusion on AQUA's faces, and the annoyance that flashed across Goodwitch's.

"Your classmates are, at this moment, choosing a mission and getting assigned to a Huntsman or Huntress. You four, however, will not do that. A Huntress, specifically an old friend of Professor Goodwitch's, and one of the greatest Hunters to graduate from this academy, has requested that she be allowed to take you on a mission that she accepted this morning. I believe it is a Search and Destroy mission on the island of Patch. When she gets here you will know more" Ozpin leaned back into his chair, taking another long sip of his coffee and pulling out a tablet, signalling that the conversation was over.

Amber turned to look at Goodwitch, almost jumping up and down in excitement. "It's her isn't it! I've always wanted to meet her! I can't believe that she's going to lead our mission!" Uranus and Alexander watched in confusion as Amber babbled on in excitement about meeting this mystery woman. Quentin, resigned to his fate of confusion and being kept in the dark, found a spare chair against the wall, and sat down, pulling his zanbato off his back, and a whetstone kit out of a bag he had placed on the ground next to him.

A soft metallic keening rang out through the office as Quentin slowly ran a polishing rag along the length of his blade, cleaning off any dust and debris that had collected on the blade. His mouth curved into a smile when Uranus and Alexander sat down on the ground on either side of him, checking, rechecking, and loading their magazines of ammo for their guns. This continued, a quiet humming coming from Uranus while the boys did their busywork and Amber talked to Goodwitch, until it all stopped when the elevator gave a small ding.

The elevator door slowly opened and a woman stepped into the room. She was shorter than everybody in the room evidenced by the fact that she was, perhaps, an inch or two shorter than Amber, who had previously been the shortest person in the room. She wore a white cloak with a hood that she pulled back, revealing black hair with crimson tips, a pale face, her lips curled into a small smile, and silver eyes that seemed to shine in the light of the office. As she walked farther into the room, her cloak fell back behind her, revealing a white skirt and shirt laced with red on the ends, a black corset around her midriff, black leggings under her skirt that ended under her black combat boots that came halfway up her calf.

"Glynda!" She cried, her voice high pitched and bubbly, throwing her arms around Goodwitch, who responded in kind, though slightly hesitantly. She stepped back from her friend, looking at the girl next to Goodwitch, recognizing Amber immediately from Goodwitch's descriptions. "You must be Amber, are those three your teammates?" She asked Amber, gesturing over to the three boys who were currently frozen in mid movement, staring at the woman who had just hugged their Professor. Amber simply nodded in reply.

"Nice to meet you all. I'm Summer Rose, I'm a friend of Glyn-sorry, Professor Goodwitch's. I graduated Beacon a while back, same year as Professor Goodwitch, actually. If you four would follow me, we can go somewhere to get to know each other a bit where we won't be bothering Professors Ozpin and Goodwitch." She said, smiling at Goodwitch and Ozpin before she turned to leave, AQUA following behind her.

Summer led team AQUA to a garden that none of them even knew existed, sitting down on a stump while Amber and her teammates sat on the ground. "So, we'll do the typical stuff, your name, where you're from, and how about you guys tell me what weapons you use and what your semblance is. We'll start with blondie." She pointed at Uranus, who jumped a bit in surprise, slightly intimidated by the professional Huntress even though she seemed so kind and happy.

"Uh, well, I'm Uranus Olympia. I'm from Vacuo, but I moved to Vale when I was really young. I use a collapsible sniper rifle that also turns into a large sickle if I need to do close range fighting. My semblance lets me infuse aura into rounds I shoot, and I can use my aura to explode the rounds when I want completely independent of whether they're Dust rounds or just standard metal rounds." Uranus was slightly uncomfortable telling anyone his semblance especially after he only realized his semblance a month or two ago in a sparring match, when he had accidentally used it to explode a round right when Lily was about to dodge. Luckily and unluckily, the bullet had been a standard metal round, so it didn't have any Dust reactions, but it did pepper Lily with shrapnel.

Team AQUA had visited Lily every day for the next week in the infirmary while she recovered, and Uranus had been beaten himself up about it for weeks afterwards. It had been instinctual for him, and it had caught everyone off guard, happening too fast for Roland to use his semblance to project his aura outward, bolstering Lily's own defensive abilities.

Summer nodded slowly, watching the Uranus's head drop in shame. She pursed her lips for a moment, thinking something over before she moved on, looking at Quentin, who was looking at his teammate with thinly veiled concern. "You, tall guy, you're up."

Quentin nodded, taking a moment to clear his throat before he rasped out, "My name is Quentin Musashi. I am from Mistral, and I use this zanbato to fight." He gestured at the sword he had balanced on his knees, while he cleared his throat again. "My semblance allows me to see what my opponent intends to do next, though it does not make me fast enough to do anything about it." His hand lightly traced the scar on his throat.

"I see…" Summer said, trailing off as she fidgeted a bit with the bottom of her skirt, clearly a bit uncomfortable. "Well, then, you're next, Atlas boy." She gestured over at Alexander, who sighed a bit reluctantly before he spoke.

"Alright, well, I'm Alexander Wallace, I'm from Atlas, as you obviously know. I have two escrima sticks that can transform into pistols that help me fight in battle. My semblance speeds up my reflexes and boosts my senses. Even when it's not active, my reflexes and senses are still better than other people's." Alexander said, eyes carefully flicking over Summer's face, looking for any reaction or indication of emotion outside her normal smile.

"Oh, you're the kid that knows Jimmy, right?" She asked, recognition lighting up her eyes, and giggling slightly when Alexander just tipped his head in confusion.

"Sorry, one of my friends has known Ironwood for longer than anyone else I've met, and refuses to address him as anything other than Jimmy. It's a bad habit that I picked up and can't quite seem to shake. You know Ironwood, correct?" She asked again, and Alexander nodded, looking a bit uncomfortable that someone he didn't know already knew something like that.

"Yeah, I know General Ironwood." Alexander said, and Summer just smiled widely at him before looking over at Amber, who had noticeably calmed from her overflowing excitement in the tower. Without Summer even asking, Amber started talking.

"Hi, I'm Amber Harvest, I'm from Mistral, I use a staff with Dust crystals on the ends of it, and, uhh." Amber paused, suddenly incredibly nervous and awkward. "Well, I haven't really discovered my semblance yet." She looked down at her boots uncomfortably, suddenly very interested in a small scuff on the toe of one of them, tactfully avoiding the gazes of everyone in the clearing but Summer, who simply looked at her understandingly.

"Well then, if that's all, head back to your rooms, gather anything you need that you don't already have, and meet me on the landing pad out front. I'd like to get to Patch by tonight." Summer hopped down from the stump, and strode away into the forest, her cloak flapping slightly in the wind. Amber immediately hopped up after Amber left and ran off to the room to grab her bag that she had forgotten to bring with her like the boys had.

It was not long after that that Amber walked down the pathway to the landing pad, where Summer stood in front of a Bullhead, watching the boys discuss something nonsensical. On her way to the Bullhead, Amber saw IPRL in full combat gear, waiting with backpacks, and looking very disgruntled.

"Hey, Ianthe, what's wrong?" Amber asked IPRL's leader, whose arms were crossed angrily as Roland attempted to calm her down.

"We were supposed to go on a mission to a village outside Vale and shadow the Huntsman that protects it, named Port, I think, but he got injured enough that emergency services had to bring him back to Vale itself to recover. We're waiting here while they try to figure out who we'll be shadowing when we go to the village." Ianthe said, uncrossing her arms, her left hand playing with the end of the bow strapped across her back that reached down to her hip.

"Well, best of luck, you guys! Hope your mission goes well!" Amber said, jogging off to meet up with her team and Summer, who were waiting expectantly for her. They all stepped into the Bullhead, door closing behind them as they took off, jetting off over the small body of water that separated the island of Patch and Signal academy from the mainland of Vale.

...

The trip was quiet except for Summer's explanation of their mission. Evidently, Grimm activity had been documented around the outskirts of Patch, and they were to investigate, hopefully finding the Alpha that was attracting the beowolves from all around the island. They would find a beowolf, or a small group, and ideally would follow them to the Alpha. From there, it would be a simple extermination mission.

The Bullhead circled around a two story log cabin on Patch for about ten minutes, trying to find somewhere to land, before Summer finally walked into the cockpit to talk to the pilot, and came back to the cargo bay after a minute, a wide smile on her face. Yelling to be heard over the turbines, Summer said, "There's nowhere to land around the house we'll be staying the night at, so we're jumping out! Get everything together, doors open in a minute!"

Alexander pulled his pack onto his back, tightened the straps around his shoulders and chest, and saw his teammates do the same. Summer gave them all a reassuring smile before the large gull wing door opened up, the wind whipping her cloak around behind her, and pushing down her hood. She gave them a mock salute before diving out of the Bullhead backwards, easily a hundred feet up in the air.

Alexander sprinted towards the edge without stopping, throwing himself headfirst into a dive out the doors, the wind whipping at his hair and stinging his eyes. Below him, he saw Summer land with a flourish of her cape, and quickly dash away from where he would shortly land. Flipping around, Alexander got his feet under himself, pulling his knees up slightly to brace for the impact, his aura forming a visible protective layer around his legs.

He hit the ground hard, making a small crater, and dropping to one knee as his aura absorbed most of the impact, and then worked to fix the damage from the force it couldn't disperse. Alexander stood up and ran towards Summer, turning around in time to see Quentin land similarly to how Alexander did, throwing up a small dust cloud in the process.

Uranus, a moment or two later, fell through the air, firing his rifle straight down once, drastically slowing his fall right before he landed, turning a hundred foot fall into a ten foot drop, which he easily rolled out of. He stood up with his typical smile, joining Summer and the other boys as they turned to watch Amber drop through the air.

About fifteen feet from the ground, Amber pulled out her staff, elongating it and activating the wind Dust crystal all in one motion, creating a massive blast of wind that slowed her fall down drastically, turning it from a free fall, into a drift down. She landed with a satisfied smirk and another small gust of air, walking over to join the boys and Summer as a tall, blond, muscular man, in a beige shirt covered partially by a brown vest, and brown cargo shorts with black shoes. Some stubble was starting to poke out along his jawline, his left bicep had a red bandana tied over it, and a stylized heart had been tattooed over his right bicep.

A broad smile stretched over his boyish and kind face when he saw Summer, but immediately fell off it when he noticed team AQUA standing near her. He took a deep breath, pausing in his approach, closing his eyes that were noticeably lilac even from a distance. When he opened his eyes, he started walking towards them again, although his jaw seemed set angrily, looking much more intimidating than a couple seconds ago.

"Hello, lovely to meet all of you, name's Taiyang, and I would love to get to know you four, but if you would excuse us for a moment, I think my wife and I have some things to talk about." Taiyang said in a rush, not waiting for any responses before he laid a hand gently on Summer's upper back and the two walked around the corner of the house, leaving a very confused team AQUA to wait outside the door of the house.

"Summer, what happened to not taking anymore missions? I thought we agreed not to take anymore missions, at least until Ruby and Yang went off to Beacon." Taiyang asked, looking hurt and confused. "You said you would finally come join Qrow and I at Signal. What happened to all of that, and why am I only just now learning you took another mission?"

"It's not a big mission, Tai, Ozpin told me about their team, and I just couldn't resist. The mission isn't big, just some Beowolf hunting. I need to know if one of them is what Ozpin claims they are. I need to see it for myself." Summer said, smiling at Tai, watching his hurt expression slip away, watching begrudging acceptance take it's place.

"This has to do with that damn group you and Qrow are in, doesn't it?" Tai asked, sighing heavily when Summer nodded. "Fine, I won't argue anymore, but this is the last one. You promised." He said, and Summer nodded, a determined look on her face briefly before she broke out in a smile, pulling Tai down and kissing him softly before they broke apart, Summer resting her head on his chest, her arms around his waist, and his around her shoulders. They stayed that way for a moment or two before they stepped away from each other, Tai following Summer back to the front of the house.

"Well, come on in, you're not here for sightseeing." Tai said, opening the door, and motioning for AQUA to follow him and Summer inside. The inside of the house, much like the exterior, was a tad bit drab and spartan, mostly brown furniture, but nonetheless was cozy and inviting. Alexander had a feeling that this was somewhere great childhoods could be had, and thus was not surprised when a young blonde girl who somewhat resembled Tai came walking down the stairs holding the hand of a younger girl who, although very young, was already as close to a carbon copy of Summer Rose as a young girl could get, right down to the seemingly natural crimson highlights in her hair.

With simultaneous cries of "MOM!" they ran across the room, arms outstretched. Summer kneeled down on the floor, pulling both girls into a hug with a happy laugh. Tai stood with team AQUA, a smile on his face as well as he looked over at the teenagers, happily noting the recognition and joy in three of their eyes, while Alexander just stood there uncomfortably, unsure of what to say, do or feel in this situation.

Summer turned around after a minute, a hand on each girl's head, walking over to team AQUA. "Girls, these four are going to stay with us tonight before they help mommy kill some monsters tomorrow, so be nice to them." She said, smiling at team AQUA, who smiled back at her and the girls. "Guys, these are my daughters, Ruby," She ruffled the chibi Summer's hair, "and Yang." She ruffled the hair on the blonde's hair, which made her scowl and swat at Summer's hand, only succeeding in making Summer laugh.

"Amber, you can stay in the guest room upstairs. Boys, you get either the couch, armchairs, or the ground. Figure that out amongst yourselves." Summer said, and, barely a moment later, Uranus yelled out, "Dibs on the couch!", causing Tai to let out a bark of a laugh.

"Feel free to put your stuff anywhere out of the way, and if any of you know how to cook, feel free to come help me make dinner." Tai said, walking off towards the doorway that led to the kitchen, followed closely by Quentin, who had given his things to Uranus to find a place for. Summer went upstairs to see something Ruby and Yang wanted to show her, leaving Uranus, Alexander, and Amber in the living room alone, though Amber shortly followed behind Summer, heading upstairs to the guest room, and Uranus set all of his and Quentin's things down before going to join Quentin and Tai in the kitchen.

And so Alexander found himself alone, sitting in an armchair that he had set his bag next to. Reaching down, Alexander pulled out a book and started to read. Alexander didn't own many books that weren't textbooks, and this was one of the few, a gift from Amber to celebrate their second semester and the upcoming Vytal Festival. The vaguely audible conversations from upstairs and in the kitchen drifted out and over Alexander as he started to read, falling away to a dull hum as he focused on the book.

So focused was he that he didn't notice when Amber, Summer, Ruby and Yang came downstairs before going into the kitchen to keep Tai, Uranus, and Quentin company while they cooked. So focused was he that he didn't notice when Yang climbed up onto the arm of the chair he was sitting in, sitting down cross legged, trying to read the book as well, before growing tired of waiting for him to notice her, and poked him firmly in his left shoulder, causing him to snap the book shut and whip his head to look at her with a start.

"Hi, I'm Yang! What's your name?" She asked, a wide, innocent smile plastered across her face that Alexander could have sworn hid some dastardly mischievousness behind it. Lilac eyes stared intensely into his own with a sparkle of childhood innocence that had long since vacated Alexander's own blue eyes.

"My name's Alexander. It's nice to meet you." He said in response, unable to stop the smile that spread across his face.

"Whatcha reading?" She asked, looking curiously at the book in his hands.

"It's a book about a man who struggles with the mistakes he's made, and trying to make up for them by doing what he thinks is the right thing, but it turns out that it wasn't the right thing for him to do." He said, looking at the leather cover, the gold lettering on the front spelling out 'Honor among Assassins'.

"That sounds really sad." Yang said, leaning over look at the lettering on the book as well. "Why would you read something that makes you sad?" She looked up at Alexander, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Well, I guess it's because sometimes reading a sad book helps us better appreciate both the good things in real life and the stories that have a happy ending. Does that make sense?" He asked, watching Yang sit there quietly for a long moment, before nodding and smiling.

"Yeah, I get it. You have to be sad every once in awhile so you don't take being happy for granted." She said, smiling a bit wider at Alexander. "Do you go to Beacon with Amber?" She asked. "I heard her talking to Mom about it earlier."

"Yeah, we're training to fight Grimm and protect people, just like your Mom and Dad." Alexander responded, placing his book down as Yang jumped off the arm of the chair when Ruby called for her from the door to the kitchen.

"I'm gonna be just like you and Mom one day! I'll go to Beacon and everything!" Yang said, with startling conviction for a ten year old. Alexander smiled at her as she walked away.

"I look forward to it."

…

Dinner was a small affair, some meat, bread, potatoes, and vegetables, followed by some chocolate chip cookies for dessert that Ruby helped Summer make, though the majority of the cookies were consumed by the two that made them. After dinner, Ruby and Yang were sent almost directly to bed, the sun having fallen below the horizon. Tai, Summer and Amber followed them upstairs, and Uranus and Quentin went to go lie down, passing out almost immediately, as the two boys often would.

Alexander, however, continued to struggle with insomnia, and was still up many hours later reading when Tai walked down the stairs, barely making any noise, and stepped out the front door. Curious, Alexander followed close behind, carefully closing the door behind him so it wouldn't make any noise. Ahead of him, he heard Tai clear his throat before a speck of fire burst forth out of the darkness on the end of the lighter that Tai held in one hand to light the cigarette in his other hand. When he lit the cigarette, he cut out the lighter, and took a long draw from the cigarette, sighing and blowing the smoke out into the darkness.

"So you're the kid that Ironwood told Ozpin about." Tai said, without turning around, reached out behind him, the unlit cigarette in his hand extended towards Alexander. "Since you're up, you might as well join me for a smoke. You can bum some off of me just this once, but if you ever smoke with me again, know that you're bringing your own." Alexander cautiously took the extended cigarette, and held it out for Tai to light.

Once it was lit, Alexander took a long draw, the smoke burning his lungs and making him cough several times, his eyes watering slightly. Tai just laughed a bit. "Hey, kid, just activate your aura. It'll heal away the burning and potential long term effects. Just leaves you with the rush." Alexander followed his advice and, for the next minute or so, they were silent.

"I didn't peg you as the type of person who would smoke." Alexander said, watching Tai stomp on the embers of his first cigarette as he lit a second. Tai shrugged, taking a long draw before he responded.

"Everybody has their vices. Huntsman and Huntresses just take vices to the extremes to help us cope. My friend Qrow drinks whiskey like its water, Summer eats more sweets than everybody I know put together, I smoke, and Ozpin consumes coffee by the gallons. They don't fix what happened, or what we did, but they help, and everyone finds something to help them." Tai looked over at Alexander as he lit the teen's second and his third cigarette.

"So, I know why I'm up this late, what's got you staying up to the midnight hours? Does it have anything to do with Project Jaeger?" Tai chuckled when Alexander looked at him shocked. "Look, kid, I know that my wife is better at hunting than I could ever be, but that doesn't mean I graduated from Beacon on accident. I'm still listed as an Elite Hunter all through Remnant, and from what I've heard, you're not far off that rank yourself, Specialist." Alexander just stood there for a long moment before he took a draw from the cigarette, thinking as he exhaled.

"I just… I feel like, no matter what I do, where I go, I can't escape my past, try as I might. I killed a lot of people, and every night, I'm treated to a parade of the people I've killed or watched die, reliving the moments where a red hot knife went through my shoulder, I had my ribs broken, or any of the numerous times I was tortured. It… makes it very hard to get any decent rest, so I usually just work myself to exhaustion before I go to bed. It doesn't help the nightmares, but it forces me to sleep through them, so at least I don't wake up pissed and spend the day quicker to anger than I already am." Alexander gave a heavy sigh, raking a hand through his hair. "I don't know what to do, I don't know if this gets any better, or any easier, but I don't want to be tortured by it my entire life."

"Of course it won't get easier, the nightmares will never go away." Tai said, watching as Alexander's face fell. "But they do stop showing up so often, and, if you play your cards right, you'll have friends around you to help you through it when they do. Your past should not be something you try to run from, or hide from. Embrace it, accept it, grow from it, and hopefully, it won't trouble you as much, and if it does, I can count at least three people in that house that are probably pretty goddam willing to help you through it." Tai tossed down his cigarette and stomped it out, Alexander following suit after a minute of silence.

"Hey kid, why don't I give you my friend Qrow's number? He's a friend of Ozpin's, he's known Ironwood for years, and Summer and I trust him with our lives. I think he might just be able to help you. How about it?" Tai said, reaching a hand out, watching Alexander carefully as he thought about it before digging his hand into his pocket, fishing out his Scroll and handing it to Tai, who tapped around on Alexander's scroll for a bit before handing it back.

"Next time you want to talk to someone, and you don't want to talk to your friends, give him a ring, alright?" Tai waited for Alexander to nod before he ushered Alexander back in through the door into the house. "Alright, now, try to go to sleep. You've got a big day tomorrow, first mission and all." Alexander nodded again, a small smile gracing his face as they split up to go to bed, each anxious for tomorrow.

…

The next day saw team AQUA waiting outside the house while Summer said goodbye to her family, spending most of the time saying goodbye to Ruby and Yang, while she and Tai simply shared a meaningful glance and a kiss. Alexander ran his thumb over the engraving on the metal lighter in his pocket that Tai had given him, which had, on one side, a wing coming off of gears over a stylized heart that matched the tattoo on Tai's shoulder, while the other side had a rose above a bird's head. In his pack was a pack of cigarettes that Tai had given him, with the caveat that he promise to give Qrow a call.

Behind Alexander, staring into the forest, Amber shifted from foot to foot restlessly, anxious to get their first mission underway, her right hand repeatedly twitching towards her lower back where her collapsed staff hung from her waist. Her left hand was tightly wrapped around the strap of her backpack, her knuckles noticeably white. Next to her stood Quentin, watching the Xiao-Long Rose family say their goodbyes with a calm joy in his eyes and a happy smile on his face.

Uranus's arms were crossed as he stood next to Quentin, his fingers beating a steady staccato onto his bicep, and his right foot tapping gently against the grass of the lawn. Quentin reached over after a minute or so of the tapping, resting his hand on Uranus's shoulder, causing the blonde's foot to still almost immediately, though his fingers kept tapping away on his arm.

Eventually, Summer stepped away from her family, waving to them as the group started walking into the forest, very carefully to tread lightly, their eyes darting and heads swiveling, searching for something that would indicate the presence of Grimm, be it the red eyes, the white bony armor, the acrid scent, or a growl. They ventured for a couple hours before breaking for lunch around midday, eating some bread and cheese from their packs while they sat quietly. Before long, they were back on the search, more spread out and confident this time, Summer carefully observing the teenagers as the sun started to approach the western horizon.

When the sun drifted below the horizon, they set up camp under a rocky overhang, thanking the gods that the temperature didn't drop too much when the sun went down. It was hardly the most comfortable place to sleep, but there were far less comfortable and far colder places that they could potentially have slept, so there was little argument. After starting a small sheltered fire and cooking up dinner, AQUA went to bed, leaving Alexander awake to take the first watch.

He sat quietly on top of the overhang, legs swinging below him, eyes carefully scrutinizing the landscape around him while a cherry light glowed at the end of the cigarette that he held in his fingers. He heard the rustling of a cape, and moved over a foot to make room for Summer to sit down next to him. She watched him silently for a bit before she finally spoke.

"Amber's watch is about to start." She said quietly, watching Alexander stub out the cigarette on the ground next to him. "You should wake her up in a minute so you can get some sleep."

"No need, I can take her watch for her. She's our leader, and we need her as well rested as possible. Besides, not like I would get much sleep anyway." He said, expecting her to say something about how he was as important to the team as Amber is, and that he should at least try to get some sleep. But she didn't. Her hand rested on his shoulder, and he looked over to see her staring at the lighter he was absently flicking on and off in his hand.

"Tai gave that to you, didn't he?" Summer asked, giving a sad smile when Alexander nodded in response. "He must like you. The only people who even know he smokes are Qrow and I. He had that engraved right before Raven left. He was going to surprise her with it, just a little thank you…" She just trailed off a bit, her words disappearing into the soft breeze.

"You guys lost your fourth teammate?" Alexander asked, confused when Summer didn't answer immediately, choosing to look off into the night with a long sigh.

"Something like that. What I'm going to tell you is not something to be repeated without Tai's permission, alright?" Summer turned and stared at him so intensely that Alexander could only nod nervously.

"I am… not Tai's first significant other. I don't know the whole story, both Tai and Raven were very private people at the time, and Tai still is, so they're the only two that could really tell you the whole thing, Qrow and I were able to piece together this story after Raven left." Summer took a long breath, letting it out slowly.

"Raven was my best friend, had been since probably a week into our time at Beacon, and Tai was Qrow's. There was always this...tension, I guess, between them that Qrow and I used to joke about meaning that they were destined to get married." Summer let out a scornful laugh. "Well, when we left Beacon, we split ways for a bit, or, at least, Qrow and I split off to do our own things. He went to Atlas, I went to Mistral, and when we returned, Tai and Raven were living together. Not that surprising, really, I had expected them to get together for a while. But it didn't affect our missions, didn't change the fact that in a bad month, Qrow and I would complete more missions separately than they would together."

"Then, a couple years later, Raven goes on a mission by herself to Vacuo, comes back really distraught, starts going out to bars with Qrow and not getting back to the apartment she and Tai shared until really late at night, smelling like smoke and booze. She and Tai worked through it together, but after that, she seemed so skittish, especially around me, like one wrong thing would make her bolt. My best friend went out of her way to avoid me." Summer paused, swallowing hard and wiping at the corners of her eyes. Alexander's cigarette, long since forgotten and burned out, fell from his hand to the ground below them.

"Maybe a year after that happened, she disappeared again, not on a mission, and leaving no note behind, really freaking Tai out. I helped Tai recover, we got really close, and when he started feeling better, we started dating. It was fun for a month or so, until Raven returned one day when I was out on a mission, leaving a basket on Tai's doorstep, and disappearing through some portal that Tai had never seen before."

"When I came back the next day, Tai was sitting in a chair, holding a baby with his blonde hair, and crying as he read a note from Raven that she left with Yang alongside her birth certificate and enough baby formula to make it through a month or so. So I called Qrow, and, together, we got Tai through it, day by day, even though, on his best day, he seemed to only get up because of Yang." Summer sighed, looking down at her boots.

"I still loved Tai, obviously, and he got better slowly, but what really made him get his act together was when Yang was a couple months past her birthday, I found out I was pregnant. I had Ruby nine months later, Tai and I married a year or so after that, and we continued moving forward. Tai stopped taking missions after we married, so we moved to Patch where he started teaching, but he carried everything with him. Every failed mission, every friend that died, and Raven." Summer watched Alexander carefully for a moment before she continued.

"Tai is a good man, and I love him, but he does not trust easily, he never has, but especially now. His advice, if he gave you any, is more than likely some of the best advice you will hear. Not because he is a wise person, but because he's already been through it." Summer stood up, Alexander's eyes following her.

"Have a good night, Alexander, I hope you manage to find sleep." She said, before leaping up into a tree near the overhang, pulling the hood farther down over her face, and settling into a fork in the tree to sleep. Alexander pulled out the lighter once again, flicking it on, watching the light dance across the engravings as he listened to howls of Beowulves far off in the distance.

…

It took them the whole next day to find one Beowolf, and when they set up camp, it was in sight of the Beowolf as it rested. Uranus took the first watch, and, two watches later, Quentin woke Alexander up. Alexander walked a few meters away and jumped up, grabbing a branch, and hoisting himself up into a tree, keeping a careful eye on the red eyes that bobbed up and down in the darkness. The hours passed by slowly, though Alexander was far from bored. Thoughts raced through his mind, and his fingers flew across the keyboard of his Scroll, documents after document, mission report after mission report, all connected together into dossiers that he had been compiling with every free moment he had had in the past two days.

Four dossiers, three of which he had compiled personally, the fourth of which had been sent to him, courtesy of General Ironwood himself. Everything he could find on team STRQ from their first year in Beacon, to the last official mission they had each completed. Qrow, apparently, averaged a mission completion every couple days, and though Summer took longer on her missions, she generally took missions that had been given higher danger ratings.

He couldn't find anything of note on Raven, some reported sightings after Tai's filed missing persons report, and didn't read anything more than he felt he needed to in Tai's file, which mostly just reinforced knowledge he already had. Tai was currently employed as a teacher at Signal Academy, though the subject he taught had never been specified by the academy.

By the time the sun rose, Alexander was just about done reading all he cared to, his mind racing with unanswered questions, some for Summer, some for Tai, but most for Raven, whose last mission had been an unofficial mission. Whatever paperwork or orders she had shown her friends and family had clearly been fabricated, as there was no mission report that put Raven in Vacuo at all in her time as a Huntress, and, from what he had gathered, she had never even traveled to Vacuo.

It all brought a number of questions to the front of Alexander's mind, most of which, however, could only be answered by Raven, who, if the most recent confirmed sighting was to be believed, was in Menagerie, though that sighting was several months old. When more beowolves started joining the one they had been following, Alexander went around, waking up everyone else except for Summer, who simply dropped down from the treetops with barely a rustle from her cloak to alert them to her arrival.

The next couple days were spent like the first, largely in silence, while they followed the steadily growing pack of beowolves, gaining a couple every day until the pack was around thirty strong on their fifth day out, when they finally found the Alpha in a clearing, surrounded by over fifty Grimm before the pack they had been following joined the group.

The Alpha was old, clearly older than any other of the Beowolves in the area. It towered over the other Beowolves, easily over 25 feet tall, with thick bone plates covering the lower parts of its arms, its shoulders, and completely covering the top of its head except for eyes. It also had sharp, bone spines sticking out of its back all along its spine, each one at least half a foot long, and some near its shoulders were around a foot.

AQUA gathered around Amber, Summer watching from the treetops above them while they talked.

"Uranus, you'll be up in the treeline, take a shot at anything that you can, try to thin the pack as quickly as possible, take any potshots at the Alpha that you think you need to. Quentin, you're going to fight the pack head on, I'll provide any firepower I can, try to keep your flanks clear. We need to decimate the pack as fast as possible so we can help Alexander. Speaking of which." Amber turned to look at Alexander who had a grim and determined look on his face.

"Do you think you can at least occupy it long enough for us to get the pack?" She asked, smiling apologetically when he nodded. "Alright. Uranus, get where you need to be, we go on your shot." With that, Uranus jumped up, swinging himself up into the trees, quickly disappearing into the treetops. Amber pulled out her staff and it sprung apart to its fully extended form while Quentin and Alexander's hands hovered over their weapons anticipatorily.

A couple seconds later, a crack rang out, and a beowolf's head exploded into a red mist before a second explosion rocked the clearing, the fire dust inside Uranus's bullet reacting violently with his semblance, creating a veritable firestorm that eliminated another few beowolves as they burned up in acrid smoke. A blast of wind exploded from Amber's staff, rocketing Alexander and Quentin towards the pack.

Flipping in midair, Alexander slammed his boots into the snout of a beowolf, using it as a springboard, throwing him up into the air above the pack with a smile on his face, feeling weightless for a moment as he hit the apex of his jump before another blast of air slammed into him, throwing him over the pack, right at the Alpha, his face settling into an emotionless mask again. As he flew, he could see beowolves drop to the ground in two pieces, in flames, or missing a head, but for every one his teammates put down, more came after, and still more from the forest.

Alexander flipped again as he neared the Alpha, slamming his boot into its snout before it pushed back, sending him back into the air momentarily before he hit the ground rolling and rose in a crouch. With a loud roar, the Alpha swung at Alexander with a paw larger than his torso, forcing him to roll out of the way before he rose again, running straight at it. The next swipe he jumped over, quickly running to the side of the Alpha, expecting it to turn towards him.

Except it didn't. Instead of turning, the Alpha simply swung its paw in a deceptively quick but brutal backhand, slamming into him with such force that it easily threw Alexander thirty feet away into a tree, where he slammed with an impact that created spiderwebs of cracks in the tree. Faster than he thought possible for something so big to move, the Alpha was in Alexander's face, swiping at him again. Barely able to recover in time, Alexander dropped under the arm, rolling between the Alpha's legs and jumping up onto its back, grabbing hold of the spikes near its shoulders, placing his feet against its back and pulling as hard as he could.

The combined forces caused the Alpha to stumble back a couple feet before it collected itself, trying to swipe at Alexander with paws that he dodged by flattening himself between the spikes on its back. Alexander thought himself terribly clever for a moment before the Alpha started moving again, slamming its back, and Alexander with it, into a tree as hard as it could manage. This dazed Alexander momentarily, though through the fog, he was able to think clearly enough to reflexively tighten his hands around the spikes, although his feet dropped from the Alphas back, bringing Alexander's full weight down on the spikes in a violent jerk.

The smaller of the two spikes snapped off easily in his right hand, leaving Alexander momentarily dangling from one spike while the Alpha wound up for another slam into the tree. Alexander shook his head to clear the fog, and, pulling himself with the unbroken spike, dropped his full weight once more onto the spike, causing it too to snap off, and dropping him to the ground in between the Alpha's legs, knocking the wind out of him while the Alpha howled in pain and anger. Alexander, catching his breath just in time, rolled away, spikes still in hand before popping back to his feet about twenty feet away from the Alpha.

It charged at him again, its red eyes blazing with incredible, unfathomable rage, and its paw brought back to swipe at Alexander before it was suddenly stopped in its tracks, distracted by a loud crack and a sniper rifle slamming into the side of its snout. Alexander ran forward in between the Alpha's legs, slamming a spike into one of the Alpha's feet, and, during its howl of pain, brought one of his escrima sticks down on the end of the spike, the electric explosion driving the spike deep into the foot, rooting it to the ground.

Alexander quickly rolled away, eyes fixed on the Alpha as it howled in pain, pulling at its leg, trying to free it from the spike. He dropped the second spike as more sniper bullets slammed into the Alpha, bringing out his own guns and emptying every bullet in the loaded magazines into the Alpha's stomach when it brought its armored forearms up to block the consistent stream of bullets that Uranus was firing at it. Alexander reloaded, running forward while the Alpha was distracted, jumping up off its crouched legs onto its shoulders, placing the barrels of his guns on the Alpha's neck and emptying everything he had into its neck, though it did little lasting damage to it.

He was jumping off when the Alpha swung a paw at him quicker than he anticipated, catching him on his shoulder and throwing him across the ground painfully. He stood up, breathing heavily as he ran over, holstering a pistol and picking up the spike he had dropped, before running at the Alpha once more, his gaze locked on its unarmored left elbow. He jumped up again, sticking the spike into the elbow, making the Alpha roar in pain as he backed up and another sniper bullet left a deep gouge across the armor on the top of its snout.

Alexander ran forward again and jumped, planting a boot on the end of the spike, jumped off the Alpha with an aura fueled jump, the force he generated jamming the spike through the Alpha's elbow, pinning it to its side, making it unable to block Uranus's shots and fight Alexander at the same time. Alexander took a deep breath, trying to calm himself as he watched another shot slam into the Alpha's face.

He ran forward again when another sniper shot knocked the Alpha off balance, jumping up, using the spike in the Alpha's elbow as a foothold, pushing himself up onto the Alpha's shoulders once again. A paw swiped at him wildly that he ducked under, placing a pistol against the eye of the Alpha and unloading a full magazine into it's eye, causing it to roar in pain, a cry from childhood nightmares filling the clearing, causing everything in the clearing to pause as Alexander pulled his pistol back, reloading before emptying another full mag into the same eye, prompting another cry as the Alpha bucked angrily, a black liquid seeping from it's eye, elbow, and foot. Alexander landed painfully on his back, slowly standing up, a dull ache indicating that his aura was dropping low. Another hit from the Alpha would likely deplete Alexander of his aura.

As he rose, he pulled his second pistol from its holster and reloaded his other one before leveling both at the Alpha that had turned to glare angrily at him. He emptied both magazines into the Alpha as it held up an arm to block Uranus's shot, the round bouncing off into the forest. Bullet after bullet buried themselves into the Alpha's torso, columns of smoke releasing whenever one connected. After his magazines were spent, the Alpha fell to one knee, letting out a pained cry as the red light left its eyes.

A massive column of black smoke rose up as the Alpha gave another cry before it disappeared, leaving behind a dirty, sweaty and tired Alexander standing in its place as the smoke dissipated. What little beowolves there were left were decimated in moments by zanbato slashes and gouts of flame as Alexander dropped to the ground, sprawling out in the grass, watching the clouds drift across the sky and the branches of the trees wave quietly in the wind. When everything finally fell silent, Summer appeared from the forest to sit down next to Alexander.

"So, did you have fun playing with your friend?" Summer asked, laughing when Alexander's response was to groan and give her the middle finger. Summer sat patiently next to the Atlesian while the rest of AQUA made their way over to them, their travel gear in hand, having collected it from the forest where they left it. Amber threw a bag at Alexander, who made no effort to catch it, letting it drop down on his stomach before he held it against his stomach with both arms.

"If you all would like, you're welcome to stay tonight in my house. Otherwise I can call a Bullhead and we can head back today to Beacon." Summer said, and AQUA unanimously accepted her offer while Alexander got to his feet.

Summer jogged off into the forest, her cloak flapping behind her, and AQUA followed behind as Alexander felt his fatigue slowly lessen as his aura started to regenerate. It was a difficult jog through the forest to say the least, often fraught with bramble bushes that tugged at any loose parts of their clothing, hidden roots that threatened to send you sprawling into the dirt, and holes and ditches that were hidden by leaves and branches. But after a few hours of travel through the forest following the most direct path Summer could manage, they found themselves approaching the cabin in the woods, under the pale light of the moon, tired, hungry, and dirty.

Tai was standing out back, a cigarette held between his lips, arms crossed as he watched the group of five approach him with a smile on his face. As she passed him, Summer kissed him on his jaw before opening the door and beckoning the teenagers in. Tai gave Alexander an indecipherable look as he walked past that almost seemed approving. Nodding to Tai, Alexander walked in the house, throwing his bag down next to the chair he would be sleeping in, and immediately walked towards the stairs. Halfway there, he was hit in the head by something that, when he grabbed it, turned out to be a rolled up towel that Tai had chucked at him from across the room with a smile before he turned back to talking with Summer in a whisper, the door behind them closed.

That night, either because of exhaustion, or a feeling of contentment and belonging that he had long searched for, Alexander fell asleep easily, and, for the first time, was not plagued by nightmares. He woke the next day well rested to a heartfelt goodbye from Tai, Ruby, and Yang, and a calm ride back to Beacon in a Bullhead, talking amicably with Summer and the other teenagers for most of the trip.

It took the long ride back to Beacon for him to realize it, but, for the first time he felt truly at peace, truly calm. Their arrival to Beacon was a quiet. The Bullhead touched down, the door opening to reveal Professor Ozpin waiting to greet his students and welcome them back to Beacon. AQUA and Summer followed Ozpin up to his office, slightly apprehensive, though it quickly disappeared when Ozpin quickly dismissed them after congratulating them on a job well done. As they left, however, Alexander let his team leave without him, choosing to stand in the waiting room at the bottom of the elevator when he recognized someone leaning against the wall. A tall man, of lithe build with poor posture, though his slouch seemed calculated, something done to possibly make people underestimate him.

Black hair was slicked back by a hand with several rings raked through it. The hand pulled away to reveal intelligent red eyes that observed everything in the room carefully. A two toned grey shirt, sleeves rolled up and the top few buttons undone to reveal a cross necklace that hung at an angle. Behind him, Alexander could see the hilt of a weapon and a tattered red cape. The red eyes finally landed on Alexander, quickly raking him up and down, taking in everything about him, pausing briefly at the pistols on his thighs and lighting up in recognition of the uniform.

"Heh, so you're the kid Jimmy likes so much, huh?" He asked, his voice rough. "Should've known Summer would find you before I did. She always was better at these types of things." He continued to stand slouched against the wall even as Alexander walked closer.

"Qrow Branwen, formerly of team STRQ, now a teacher at Signal and, from what I've gathered, Ozpin's favorite operative." Alexander said, prompting a slight wince from Qrow in response.

"Nah, Ozpin never liked me as much as he liked Summer. Can't fault him for that, though. Not many people are fonder of me than they are of Summer." He said, with a self-deprecating laugh that got Alexander to smile.

"Oh, good, Ironwood hasn't turned you into a tin man yet." Qrow said with a chuckle and a smirk. "Bastard wouldn't know comedy if it hit him in the face." The room lapsed into a slightly uncomfortable silence, Alexander not exactly sure how to say what he wanted to say next.

"So, uhh, well, Tai said to talk to you if I ever had trouble sleeping because of bad memories. I figured, even though I might not really need the help right now, since you were here…" Alexander trailed off awkwardly, firmly planting his hands into his pockets out of discomfort, though there was no need, as Qrow's face immediately shifted from mirthful to very serious and understanding.

"Thought you might as well get the ball rolling." Qrow sighed heavily, running his hand through his hair again. "Well, I'm not exactly sure what will work for you, but I'll tell you what works for me, if that's fine?" He waited patiently for a moment before Alexander nodded, prompting him to continue.

"Honestly, time more than anything else has been a big factor. That and realizing that there was nothing I could do. I know that that bit might not really help all that much for you, but, in reality, if what Jimmy has told me is true, you really didn't have any other option. Nobody could expect a kid to even make it through half of what you went through and did, but you did." Qrow paused for a moment, spinning a ring around his index finger, a thick silver band with the same symbols that Tai's lighter had.

"That's really it. There's no real science to it. Hope that helped. If you ever want to talk, I assume Tai gave you my number, give me a call. I'm happy to help whenever I can." Qrow said as the elevator behind Alexander beeped, a white blur shooting out to latch onto Qrow in a hug that threatened to knock him over.

"Qrow! It's so great to see you! You never visit anymore!" Summer cried, her hug reciprocated after Qrow regained his balance. "The girls would love to see you! You have to come back to Patch with me after this!" Qrow released the hug, pushing away the Huntress who was almost jumping up and down in joy.

"Alright, fine, once we get back, I'll go back to Patch with you. I haven't seen my nieces in far too long. And Tai, I suppose deserves a visit." The last bit was said jokingly offhandedly, prompting a swat to the arm from the white-cloaked woman, which Qrow feigned to be in great pain from.

"Are you two already leaving on a mission?" Alexander asked, his curiosity overruling his fear at intruding on a private moment. Summer only turned to him, a wide smile on her face.

"Yeah, Lionheart got a pretty reliable tip that Raven's in Mistral, so we're going to hunt her down." She said, he smile somehow seeming to grow even brighter as she spoke.

"He knows about Raven?" Qrow asked, looking at Summer, head cocked to the side in curiosity, though a smile still had yet to leave his face as well.

"Well, yeah, Tai gave him his lighter." Summer said, as if that explained everything for Qrow, which it seemed it did, as he simply 'Aaah'ed in response, and nodding a bit.

"Hey, Alexander, when we get back, you and your team should come join us at Patch over the weekend or something. I know the girls would love to see Amber again, Tai would love to have Uranus and Quentin around so he doesn't have to cook, and I know that Tai is looking forward to seeing you again." She said, with a smile so hopeful that Alexander couldn't do anything _but_ accept, unknowingly smiling himself.

"Lovely!" She said, grabbing Qrow's arm and practically dragging him out, the pair shouting their farewells over their shoulders as they left.

"I hope they find her. If anyone deserves some good luck in their lives, it's those two." Ozpin said cryptically, before turning and leaving Alexander alone with his mild confusion.

…

 **Seven Years and Two Months Before the Battle of Beacon**

A late night, rare these days for Alexander, found him wandering the campus of Beacon academy barefoot in a t-shirt and athletic shorts, laden by a feeling of dread that he just couldn't shake. The moon was shadowed by thick purple clouds, waiting to burst forth with rain at any moment. So, when he felt a drop of liquid hit his shoulder, he wasn't initially surprised. It was when the drop wasn't cold, and stuck his shirt to his skin that he got worried.

He swiped a finger across it, feeling it come away with a viscous liquid that smelled of iron, definitely blood. Looking up, he saw a bird flying crookedly towards the landing pads before it dropped suddenly, plummeting to the ground on a landing pad. Running over, Alexander was startled to find, on the ground, not a bird as he would have expected, but Qrow Branwen, covered by cuts and stab wounds, bleeding profusely.

Alexander dropped down next to him, seeing a hole in the left side of Qrow's stomach that seemed freshest, and, unlike the other wounds, didn't go all the way through. Pulling his shirt off, Alexander balled it up in one hand, pressing it down as hard as he dared on the wound as he pulled out his Scroll, dialing the number for Beacon's hospital wing. The Scroll rang a few times, making Alexander nervous for a moment before he heard someone pick up with an exasperated "What?".

"Qrow Branwen is critically wounded on the landing pad, I need help immediately, and someone needs to wake Professor Ozpin up, he'll want to know." Alexander heard nothing in response for a moment, getting a bit nervous until he heard frantic shouting in the background of the call. The sounds of people rushing around was the last thing he heard before the call dropped.

Everything was silent for a long while until he heard people starting to run up behind him, causing him to look back. A hand clamping down on his forearm, consequentially, scared the devil out of him, his head whipping around to see Qrow, head up and eyes wide and staring right at him, breathing shallow. "Tell Tai I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, she's not coming back." His head dropped down, tears streaming down his face as the hospital personnel loaded Qrow onto a gurney as he repeated those sentences several times before just lapsing into repeating "I'm so sorry", his head rocking back and forth.

Alexander followed the EMTs to the hospital wing, telling them everything he could, answering as many questions as he could before they reached the hospital wing and Alexander was forced to wait out in the lobby, standing, barefoot with no shirt in the middle of a cold hospital lobby, his shirt having been tossed in a trash bin by the EMTs.

"You did well, Alexander." Ozpin said, having just randomly appeared by his shoulder, a shirt held in an outstretched hand that Alexander gladly accepted and put on. His now empty hand joined his other, holding onto the end of his cane with a white knuckle grip. "You should head to bed, now, child. If anything happens, I'll be sure to have you notified."

Alexander waited a moment before nodding, turning to leave the hospital wing, but paused at the door when he could have sworn he heard something crack. Turning around, he saw a small puddle forming at the bottom of Ozpin's cane, the tile around it cracked and broken, Ozpin's head bowed. Alexander swallowed a growing lump in his throat, feeling tears prick the edges of his eyes as he left the hospital wing.

…

 **A/N: Fuck. This was a bitch to write, what with university combined with the fact that I kept struggling with how to get to the chapter to the point I wanted it to reach. I hope you all at least liked the chapter as a chapter, I know I threw some feels at you there.**

 **Thanks as always, to my bud, Bulba Fett, for betaing the chapter and being patient with my bullshit.**

 **What'd you guys think about Season 4? I liked it, overall.**

 **Reviews, as always, are welcome. See you all in the next chapter.**

 **Bulba Fett: Almost had it up to here with your bullshit...I kid, I kid. But yeah, Volume Four ended on a pretty nice note. I've had my...issues...with how the story for RWBY has been going since the end of Volume three and Rooster Teeth as a whole, and frankly, I don't want to rant on someone else's story. Though, the amount of RenNora was great...we need more of that in V5 ;)**

 **PEACE!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: We do not own RWBY in any way. This is a fan written story, obviously, and all rights belong to Rooster Teeth Productions. Please support the official release.**

…

Chapter 4:

…

"To strive,

To seek,

To find,

And not to yield"

 _-_ Lord Alfred Tennyson

 **Seven Years and One Month before the Battle of Beacon**

After a month of care, Qrow was finally up and about, moving around with barely limited motion. It surprised no one that the first thing Qrow was going to go do with his freedom was talk to Tai, who had yet to be informed of his wife's death. It had been something that Qrow had insisted upon, that he be the one to deliver the news. But Ozpin refused, for whatever reason, to allow Qrow to go on his own, forcing Qrow to take someone he trusted along with him.

So, Qrow sat begrudgingly in the backseat of a car as it jostled it's way down the road, his grey shirt and cape having been replaced today with a plain black button up that had only the collar button undone, and a grim look on his face. To his left, also in the backseat, sat Alexander, his normally bright white uniform having been replaced today with an all black version with a black tie. Unlike his white outfit that he wore regularly, however, the funeral dress proudly declared his military past, with patches on either shoulder to indicate his rank as Specialist, and the Atlesian crest as pins on the lapels of his coat. In his hands, he held a black beret that he hadn't worn since the funeral service for the other Jaeger program members.

The car ride was quiet and uncomfortable, with Qrow blankly staring out into the forests of Patch, and Alexander staring intently at the Atlesian crest on his beret. When the car finally came to a stop, Alexander saw a lilac and silver eye each peeking out from behind the curtain on a window that quickly disappeared when Qrow stepped out of the car. Alexander followed him up to the door after he fixed his beret on his hand, and stood to Qrow's left, hands clasped behind his back, and his face solemn.

The door slowly opened, a worried but excited looking Tai stepping out. "Summer…" He started to say, before trailing off when he saw Alexander was the one next to his friend, not his wife. The excitement slipped off his face, turning almost instantly into the deepest sorrow that Alexander had ever seen on someone's face.

"No, no, no. Please, no." Tai said, backing up until his back hit the closed door, and he started to slip down to the ground. Qrow tried to take a step forward to help his friend, his hand outstretched, but Tai simply ignored it. Tai took a long, shuddering breath before turning and slamming his fist into the doorframe as he yelled, the wood splitting under his hand. He pulled his hand back, tears streaming down his face, head bowed. A wail split the air as Tai fell to his knees, his arms wrapped around his stomach as he cried.

Alexander felt tears prick his eyes and start falling down his cheeks as Qrow kneeled down next to Tai and put an arm around him to pull Tai in as they cried. The door started to open, and Alexander saw a mop of blonde hair through the crack. He walked over, taking a deep breath and wiping his eyes before he opened the door, stepping inside, carefully keeping himself between the girls and their father, carefully blocking their view.

He gave a quick glance outside to see Qrow looking at him. Before the door closed, he caught Qrow mouthing 'Thank you' to him. He turned to see wide, innocent eyes staring up at him from Ruby and Yang. He swallowed a lump in his throat and blinked a few times before he crouched down to their level.

"What's wrong with our dad? Why are you here with Uncle Qrow? Where's Mom?" Asked Ruby in a quiet, concerned voice that almost made Alexander burst out into tears right there. As it was, he took a few deep breaths to compose himself while the girls stared questioningly at him.

"Your dad just got some very bad news about your mom. He's going to talk to you about it after he and Qrow are done." Alexander took another deep breath, leaning his head back and looking at the ceiling, pursing his lips. He lowered his head slowly, looking at the girls and resting his hands gently on their shoulders.

"Just remember, no matter what anyone ever tells you, your mother loved you. You were the most important thing in her life, and she loved you more than anything else. Remember that." He stared at the girls who looked incredibly concerned. After a minute, they nodded at him and his hands fell back down to his sides. He felt the door open, and got to his feet, stepping away from the door. Qrow and Tai stepped inside, the latter looking absolutely terrible. Eyes bloodshot and red, hair sticking up every which way from running his hands through his hair. Qrow met Alexander's eyes and beckoned for him to follow him outside.

"Tai needs to talk to his daughters for a bit. After that, I'd like you to help bring the girls over to my house. Tai is going to be in a bad spot for a while, and I'm going to take care of the girls for as long as he needs me." Qrow said, watching Alexander's face carefully. Alexander nodded, thinking over his next words carefully.

"Like when Raven left?" Alexander asked softly. Qrow closed his eyes for a moment before nodding his head slowly, tears pricking at the edge of his eyes.

"Something like that. Except this time, Summer won't be there to pull him through it." Qrow was silent for a long moment as he opened his eyes, looking over at the house and the closed door. After a long moment of silence, he looked over at Alexander.

"I don't want to ask anyone this, but, Summer and Tai trusted you. I need to find Raven, more for Yang and Tai's sakes than my own. For all I care, I could never see her again and it would be too soon. But, between missions, teaching, looking after the girls, and checking up on Tai, I don't think I'll have much time to search for Raven. Can you do this for me? For Tai?" Qrow asked, his eyes so hopeful that even if he wanted to say no, Alexander didn't think he could have.

"Of course. I'll do everything I can to find her." Alexander said, which got Qrow to smile for the first time in months, even if it was small. Qrow held a hand out that Alexander clasped firmly, their commitment sealed.

The door of the house opened and Tai walked out, carrying several bags in his arms as he led the two girls out, their eyes a little red as they quietly sniffled and failed to keep the tears from falling down their cheeks. Yang looked especially distraught, and also confused. Qrow walked up, taking the bags carefully from Tai. Once he was relieved of his burden, Tai ducked back inside, before stepping back out with a bundle of cloth in each of his hands. Unfolding them, he held, in one hand, a red cloak, and an orange scarf in the other.

He put the scarf carefully around Yang's neck and clasped the cloak around Ruby's shoulders, kissing his daughters on their foreheads as he did so. "Summer was going to give you those on your birthdays. She and I love both of you, now and forever." He said, pulling them both in for a quick hug before directing them to follow Qrow to the car. Once the girls were in the car, and the door was closed, Qrow looked at Tai.

"Does Yang know?" He asked, to which Tai simply nodded, tears streaming down his cheeks once more. Qrow simply nodded, clenching his hands a couple times before turning back to the car. Alexander followed after watching Tai walk into the house, head hung in sadness. Something made Alexander wait, however, his hand on the handle to the passenger front seat of the car, Qrow having already gotten in the back with his nieces.

Alexander's patience was rewarded, so to speak, when he saw what looked like the shadow of a lamp fly across the window, veiled by the curtain that was still drawn. A faint crash, barely discernable to Alexander, traveled across the lawn, and he sighed sadly before he opened the door and getting in the car, pulling off his beret as he did so.

…

 **Six Years and Six Months before the Battle of Beacon**

Ruby and Yang hadn't been home in seven months. Tai visited on his good days, but for the most part, Yang was responsible for taking care of Ruby when Qrow was out on missions or teaching. When he was home, Qrow would dote on his nieces, taking them out to eat, helping them with anything they wanted, and telling them fantastic tales of monsters and heroes, some true, some not. Qrow and Alexander met at least once a week, even if it was brief, to talk about Raven and Alexander's search. Those meetings would, occasionally on the weekend, turn into Alexander following Qrow back to his house to talk to Ruby and Yang. Eventually occasionally turned into frequently, and Amber started tagging along with her teammate to spend a couple hours playing with Ruby and Yang.

Months and months of scouring Atlesian, Mistralian, Vale, and Vacuoan law enforcement, Hunter, and military databases had found little more than small sightings, barely any confirmable sightings. Along the way, Alexander had decided to dig deeper into the last mission that Qrow and Summer went on. An entire file on his Scroll was dedicated to the mission, with everything from a personal account from Qrow to a short newspaper article that was published by a small town newspaper about a destructive battle near their town.

So, it was not odd to see Alexander knocking on Qrow's door late one night, having just gotten off the airship to Patch. Qrow, seeing as how he was usually out on missions before he took in Yang and Ruby, lived a modestly sized two bedroom apartment that could seem a bit small with the three of them in it. Qrow frequently slept on the couch, giving his bed up so that Ruby and Yang wouldn't have to share.

After a minute of waiting, Qrow opened the door, a bit surprised to see Alexander standing on his welcome mat. "Hey, what's up? I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow." He said, ushering the teenager in the door.

"I wasn't planning on coming tonight, but I found something I thought you should see right away." Alexander said, taking a quick cursory glance about the apartment. "Are the girls asleep?" He asked, letting out a small sigh of relief when Qrow nodded.

"Good, I don't want to risk them hearing this." Alexander said, pulling out a tablet from his backpack. Qrow looked at him, puzzled, as Alexander started tapping and typing away on his tablet. Qrow watched as a number of firewalls and barriers came up and fell just as quickly, bypassed by codes Alexander had long since hijacked from Haven Academy's databases.

"This here," Alexander started, handing Qrow the tablet, watching his eyes widen, "Is Raven. The clearest picture I've been able to find. There's two problems with what that picture tells us." Alexander said, pointing to the huts in the background of the picture, and the Faunus crowd that partially obscured her.

"That's Menagerie." Qrow said, pointing at a man standing in behind a podium in front of several blue flags with white wolf heads on them. "I remember this. This was the first televised speech Ghira Belladonna gave about Faunus rights. It happened the day that Summer and I left for Mistral..." Qrow said, trailing off and looking at Alexander, who looked positively grim.

"Yeah, that picture, and a few other photos I found put Raven in Menagerie not only the day you got the tip, but for a few days prior and for a couple days after. That's the first problem that this picture gives us." Alexander said, taking the tablet back and zooming in on the photo of Raven to point out a mask hanging from her belt that looked like a Nevermore.

"Damn." Qrow said, rubbing his temples. "So, not only was Raven not even in Mistral, but she's back with our damn tribe. Great, awesome, but what does all of this mean?" Qrow asked, his voice laced with restrained anger at his sister, pulling a bottle of whiskey down from the shelf and pouring himself a glass that he immediately downed all of.

"Well, I don't know exactly what her joining your tribe again means for you, but Mistral has seen a systematic rise in both Grimm and bandit attacks since that picture was taken. So, we can most likely reasonably assume that she is somehow connected to the attacks. Outside of that, I had to really dig deep to find those pictures. They were hidden deep in Haven archives. Someone didn't want anyone to find them." Alexander said, closing the tablet and putting it away in his backpack.

"It also means that either Lionheart is a traitor, or someone high ranking who works for him is. Your mission with Summer was destined to be a failure. Whether the original intent was for both you and Summer to get killed, just one of you, or to just sideline Ozpin's two best agents for a time, whoever set you up didn't just rest on their laurels. Mistral, Vacuo, and Vale servers, according to Dr. Polendina, had been picked over meticulously while they were focused on finding who ambushed you guys. Seemingly unimportant files that he remembered seeing on the databases had been deleted, as well as a few personnel files for civilians, Huntsman and Huntresses had been completely wiped. Recent counts were down a few from the last time anyone had taken stock of all active Hunters, even though it was barely a month before your mission. Someone wanted people to disappear." Alexander said, as Qrow downed another few drinks.

"Have you told Ozpin?" Qrow asked, sighing heavily when Alexander nodded. "Who do you think it was?" Alexander stood awkwardly for a moment as he thought.

"We have no idea. Some of Dr. Polendina's people are working on recovering the data, or as much as they can, using old backups, but it's slow going. We don't even have positive IDs on the missing personnel files. Ozpin has an idea of who it is, but he's being pretty tight lipped about it. Only thing I could get out of him about it was that there was a cold case of a woman, alias 'the Queen'. A few murders here and there, a couple hacks, dust thefts, and apparently the assassination of a councilman were all attributed to 'the Queen' in the past ten years or so. Other than that, there's nothing at all. No witnesses, no potential IDs, nothing. This 'Queen', and whoever work for her are both incredibly careful, and incredibly good." Alexander replied, accepting the glass of water Qrow extended to him as he spoke.

"Alright kid, that's enough business for one day. How're you doing? How's your team?" Qrow asked, leading Alexander out into the living room, sitting down on a couch in front of a coffee table while Alexander took the chair. This had become something of a routine since Alexander started visiting. Once they were done talking about whatever Alexander needed to tell Qrow, and the girls were in bed, Alexander, and Amber, if she had joined them, would sit down and just talk. Qrow would tell them silly stories about his teammates during and after Beacon, and they would respond in kind.

"Uranus got put in the hospital wing for a few days. Nothing major, just got thrown through a wall by this big guy named Roland. He got out yesterday, and he's fine, just got bad luck on the one on one match drawing. We got a new professor, this dude named Peter Port. He looks super old, but I looked him up, and he's not too much older than you are." Alexander said, getting confused when Qrow smiled in recognition.

"Yeah, he graduated Beacon when we were first years. He still have grey hair?" Qrow asked, laughing when Alexander nodded.

"He picked up a mustache somewhere along the way, too." He said, making Qrow laugh. "He's not a bad teacher, and he teaches us some pretty important stuff once you get past the endless storytelling he does."

"Yeah, he always was a boisterous one. How're Amber and the quiet one doing?" Qrow asked.

"They're alright, Amber would've come along, but she had a spar that turned pretty nasty and wanted to rest. Quentin's still doing his quiet intellectual thing, he's been able to get through most of his spars fairly unscathed. He's actually still a little mad that we didn't enter the Vytal tournament, but he's getting over it." Alexander said, rolling the glass of water between his palms.

Qrow smirked conspiratorially, waiting until Alexander took a long drink of water. "Hey, kid, did I ever tell you about how Tai tricked me into wearing a skirt around school all day?" Qrow's smirk grew into a full blown smile when Alexander spit his water out, coughing a couple times.

"WHAT?!"

…

 **Six Years and Five Months before the Battle of Beacon**

Professor Ozpin looked up from his desk in confusion and surprise when Alexander suddenly marched out of the elevator, Professor Goodwitch a step behind, berating him for walking in while the headmaster was working without an invitation. Alexander simply ignored her, his face wrought with rage and fear as he dropped a tablet down on Ozpin's desk. Goodwitch's protests ceased almost the second Ozpin picked up the tablet and his face dropped as he put the tablet back down on the desk, only for Alexander to snatch it up a second later, holding it in his arms like it was the most important thing in the world.

"Is this real?" Ozpin asked, eyes closed, as he massaged the bridge of his nose with his fingers. Alexander nodded hesitantly before realizing Ozpin couldn't see it.

"He's the only one that any database had any knowledge of with the skill to hack the most secure Haven servers." Alexander said, watching Goodwitch carefully out of the corner of his eye. "Unfortunately, as far as we can tell, his was one of the files that was deleted during Qrow and Summer's mission. The only reason we have that file is because it was a Haven backup on the Atlas servers. Even if we wanted to find him, nobody has even half of an idea of where to start."

Ozpin sighed heavily, opening his eyes and looking at Goodwitch. "Glynda, send a message to Qrow, tell him to keep an eye out for Dr. Arthur Watts during his missions. Alexander, send him that picture from the file so he knows what to look out for. Oh, and, Alexander, please give the rest of your team a call. I have something for them to do."

…

An hour later, Quentin, Uranus and Amber joined their teammate, Goodwitch, and Ozpin in the headmaster's office, subtle looks of confusion on their faces both from Alexander's carefully schooled features, and Goodwitch's open expression of disapproval. "Thank you for joining us," Ozpin began, looking them all over, "You three are going to assist the Vale police department in an investigation that they are currently running. Unfortunately, Alexander will not be assisting you. General Ironwood requested his help up in Atlas with a separate investigation."

"Why are you splitting us up?! Why not just have us go to Atlas with Alexander?" Amber asked, looking affronted. "Can you not trust us?!" Uranus and Quentin stood silently, but their clenched jaws and steely eyes spoke of their support for their team leader. Alexander exchanged a look with Ozpin which Ozpin simply shook his head at. Goodwitch, behind Ozpin, noticed the nonverbal exchange and her expression grew thunderous.

Ozpin sighed heavily before taking a sip of coffee. Amber continued to go on a tirade for another minute about his lack of trust in them before Ozpin finally had enough, simply raising his head and cutting her off with a look. "It is not my lack of trust that is keeping you from going with Alexander to Atlas. This is a mission that Alexander has been working on for a while, sacrificing his free time at mine, Qrow Branwen, and General Ironwood's behest. It is something I would like to involve as few people as possible in. Thus, Alexander is the only one who will be on this mission." Alexander stood, gaze fixed on the ground, hands clasped behind his back while his team looked over at him, confused and hurt.

"You are to report to the main precinct office tomorrow at ten. You will be exempted from schoolwork until the termination of your mission. Good luck, and good hunting." Ozpin said, prompting the three to turn and walk out, sneaking glances over at Alexander as they left, only to see their teammate standing stock still, gaze still fixed on the ground.

"I'm sorry." He whispered, as the doors of the elevator closed on his team, though only Ozpin and Goodwitch heard him. When the elevator started moving, Alexander turned to Ozpin, whose gaze was deeply apologetic.

"A bullhead will be here tonight at midnight. He said to prepare for potential wetworks, and that you would know what he meant." Ozpin said, watching Alexander's face steel into an emotionless mask before he nodded and started walking toward the elevator. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to. We can find someone else, Qrow, maybe, or a different Specialist."

Alexander said nothing until he got to the elevator, where he turned to look back at Ozpin and Goodwitch. "That's where you're wrong, Professor. Qrow has nieces to watch. I have to do this. Someone has to. And anyone else would probably do it wrong." The doors closed on him, the elevator descending, leaving behind Ozpin and Goodwitch to ruminate in silence.

…

Atlas Academy was exactly what Alexander had pictured. A monster of glass, white marble, and steel, every building looked identical, every hallway looked the same as the next, and every floor the same as the one before it. On the top floor of the academic building was the only difference, a set of oak double doors that opened into an office that was distinctly General Ironwood. Spartan but for a large wooden desk, bookshelves on the walls, a couch and a few chairs, it was large and empty, much like his office aboard the _Yggdrasil._ When Alexander reached the double doors, a black duffle bag across his back, he heard some conversation from inside.

He pushed open the door with a slight squeal from the hinges, knowing that Ironwood was expecting him, and was unsurprised to see the general behind his desk, and Dr. Polendina to his right. He was, however, surprised to see a teenage girl, roughly 19 years old like him, likely a second year Academy student, judging by her clothes. Her bright white hair was pulled up in a bun, but when she turned to look at the source of the noise, he noticed that a lock of hair had been left free of the bun, and partially covered her right eye. Her ice blue eyes stared at him accusingly, but he stared back, unperturbed. As he walked into the room, he activated his semblance, and laughed internally when her eyes widened in surprise when his started to glow.

"Miss Schnee, feel free to come back another time to continue our discussion. For now, however, I need to talk to Specialist Wallace. So, if you would give us the room…" Ironwood said, trailing off and gesturing toward the door. The Schnee girl's eyes gained a hint of fear the next time she looked at Alexander before she nodded and hurried out.

"See you soon, Winter." Alexander called after her, and the door was slammed shut behind her. Ironwood just sighed, motioning for Alexander to take a seat in a chair in front of the desk. Dropping his duffel bag on the ground, Alexander took the offered chair with a genuine smile, always amused when Ironwood got exasperated.

"Was that necessary, Alexander?" Ironwood asked, while Dr. Polendina simply smiled genially behind him. Alexander shrugged with a smile.

"Probably not, but her dad bankrolled the Jaeger program, 'allegedly'. So, any chance to mess with a Schnee, I'll take." He said, with air quotes as he said allegedly. Dr. Polendina chuckled a bit while Ironwood simply sighed, reaching into his desk and pulling out a file with the word 'classified' stamped across the front. He slid it across the desk to Alexander, who raise an eyebrow before he took the file.

"That is everything the Atlas servers had on the White Fang. Your MP, Raven Branwen, seems at least tangentially connected to them, considering in almost all their televised or recorded rallies, we get a glimpse of her. Fortunately, the White Fang will be holding a rally this week in Atlas to protest the Schnee Dust Company's treatment of their miners." Ironwood said, as Alexander skimmed over the file.

"We want to do two things, make sure the rally happens safely, and also give them some real testimonies from the miners." Ironwood continued, causing Alexander to look up.

"That's where I come in, right?" He asked, and Ironwood nodded. "So, get some miners out of the mines and then run overwatch on the rally, both to keep it safe, and hopefully spot Branwen." He said, more to himself than anything else. "Alright, what mine am I doing this at?" Alexander asked, pulling up a map of Atlas on his Scroll.

"There's a mine four miles outside of Atlas to the west. It's one of the biggest mines. Bunkhouses for the miners are guarded 24/7. They're basically slaves. Free them, and the White Fang will have some really good testimonies for tomorrow." Dr. Polendina said, smiling when Alexander nodded, pocketing his Scroll and picking up his duffel bag.

"I'll take care of it." He said as he walked out the door. When he walked out, he turned to the right, heading for the elevator, but was stopped when a pair of ice blue eyes stared at him from Winter, who was leaning against the wall next to the doors. He stopped momentarily when she pushed off the wall and walked toward the door, likely to continue her discussion with Ironwood.

She stopped with a hand on the door handle. Looking over her shoulder, she said, "Everything at that mine is accessed by key cards. If you take a card off a guard, you can get anywhere in that complex." She turned the handle and walked inside, closing the door behind her, leaving behind a smiling Alexander.

"Oh, Jaques, you fucked up, buddy." Was all he said as he continued down the hall towards the elevator.

…

An hour or so after nightfall a day later, Alexander silently trod through the bushes, clad in dark green cargo pants, black combat boots, and dark green form fitting long sleeved shirt, with a small black duffle bag on his back, and gloves on his hands, following a guard on his patrol through the forest on the edges of the compound. "Sync 1" squawked from the guard's radio, and he pulled it out, thumb on the button, replying "Sync 2". The second his thumb left the button, Alexander's hand was on his shoulder, spinning him around and slamming a fist into his windpipe, silencing him. Alexander kicked the man's knee in with a snap, before slamming an elbow into the man's temple, dropping him to the ground with a quiet thump.

He pulled the guard's key card off his belt with a quiet snap, breaking the elastic that kept it attached. Alexander picked up the radio, hooking it to his belt and pocketing the key card before dragging the guard into a dense bush, tossing the guard's rifle farther into the forest. Alexander slowly walked over to the fence, glancing around for any guards, cameras, or spotlights. Seeing none, he pulled a pair of bolt cutters out, and cut a hole large enough for him to comfortably get through.

Creeping up on the bunkhouse in front of him, the radio at his belt squawked "Sync 1". Quickly pulling it off his belt, looking around for anyone, he thumbed the button, and replied "Sync 2". A long moment of held breath later, he heard the call "Sync 3". Letting out his breath slowly, Alexander slowly crept around the bunkhouse to the door. A quick glance around revealed no one near him, so he opened the door, a quiet beep ringing out when he swiped the keycard. He opened the door quietly, closing it behind him.

When he turned to look at the inside of the bunkhouse, the lights flipped on, a sharp, jagged piece of metal inches from his eyes. His hands went up to show he meant no harm, eyes darting around to see about a dozen in the bunkhouse, who, though they didn't look like they would attack him, still looked on edge. "Who are you, and why are you here?" The faunus holding the shiv asked him, drawing Alexander's attention back to the man, who was an inch or two shorter than Alexander, with long, unruly blonde hair that barely hid his horns, and a beard, his dark brown eyes barely veiling his fear and apprehension, though they also were ringed with purple, a sign of the man's fatigue, if the tattered clothes that hung off his gaunt frame wasn't indication enough.

"I'm here to get you out. Some very important and influential would very much like you to give personal testimonials tomorrow at a White Fang rally." Alexander slowly lowered his hand, fishing around in one of the pockets on his thigh, before pulling out a GPS. "That will show you where to go. It has the location of the White Fang's hotel. When you get there, tell the receptionist that you're there to meet Ghira, and that Specialist Wallace sent you. I've called ahead, and they'll know what to do." The Faunus nodded, taking the GPS from Alexander.

"How will we get out?" He asked, looking at the other miners in the bunkhouse.

"I cut a hole in the fence behind the bunkhouse. Take that. I'll make a distraction, keep the guards' attention off of you. Wait ten minutes before you leave the bunkhouse, stay as quiet as you can until you are absolutely sure you're safe." Alexander said, turning back towards the door, but stopped when the Faunus' hand grabbed his shoulder in a grip he didn't think the man possible of in his state.

"Thank you." The Faunus said, to which Alexander only nodded, before walking out, pulling on the neckline of his shirt, pulling up a mask to cover the lower half of his face that had previously been rolled into his collar. He pulled a hat out of the duffel bag, pulling it low to hide his face from any cameras. He quickly made his way across the compound, skirting along the edge of another of the four bunkhouses before he got to the part of the compound he cared about. The guard area. He walked up confidently, swiping the key card to open the gate. He slipped in quietly, slowly creeping over to the storage building.

He swiped the card again, and slunk in, barely dodging the gaze of the only guard on duty inside the guard area. Inside, he found box after box of ammunition, as well as dynamite and plastic explosive, for 'mining'. Taking the plastic explosive, he put in the black duffel, adding it to the explosives he had already brought. Slowly sneaking out of the storage building, he left the radio behind in the building. Alexander spent the next few minutes slinking behind the guard on patrol, until they got to the surveillance building. Alexander quickly placed a generous amount of explosive around and on the surveillance building, and priming said explosives.

It took Alexander another minute or so to get to the gate to the guard area, placing and priming some explosive on the swipe pad. Walking over to the guard tower, he placed explosive around the bottom and was priming it when he heard a guard's radio at the top of the tower squawk out, "Jenkins, why didn't you call out 'Sync'? Jenkins?". Muttering a curse under his breath, Alexander primed the last explosive, running over to the fence near the guard area, placing a charge against the fence and priming it.

Right when the beginnings of an alarm sounded, Alexander had reached the cover he wanted, pulling out a detonator, and depressing the button. A series of explosions rocked the compound, the surveillance building going up immediately, guards streaming out of their bunkhouses, only to get stuck at the gate which wouldn't open, having been damaged when the charge on the swipe pad went off. They watched silently as the guard tower toppled, and the fence was blasted apart. Faunus streamed out of their bunkhouses, some dropped to the ground by bats by the few guards patrolling the miner's bunkhouses as the miners ran for the hole Alexander had blasted in the fence.

Out of the corner of his eye, Alexander saw roughly a dozen Faunus run for the hole he had cut in the fence, smiling when they disappeared into the forest. Alexander slowly slunk over to the same hole the Faunus had successfully escaped through, hiding under the abandoned bunkhouse until the compound started to calm down before he slipped out through the hole, and running through the forest.

A few hours and a wardrobe change into a simple white button down, denim jeans, and less obviously combat boots, later, Alexander walked into the lobby of the hotel that the White Fang leaders had been given at General Ironwood's behest. He walked up to the desk, a smile on his face when the young woman working the graveyard shift looked up at him. "Umm, sir, you're either very late or very early for check-ins. Is there something I can help you with?" She asked, tilting her head in confusion when he continued to smile, looking around the lobby.

"Yes, there is. Some friends of mine came in, probably an hour or two ago, I was wondering if anyone came in to join Ghira Belladonna's reservation." He asked, his smile never waning. The woman just looked down at her computer and typing a couple things before she nodded.

"Yes, looks like thirteen people came in a little bit ago. They took the rooms around Mr. Belladonna and his family. Do you want me to give any of them a call, let them know you were here?" She asked, picking up a Scroll from next to the computer. Alexander just shook his head, turning to leave.

"That won't be necessary. They'll need as much rest as they can get." Alexander walked out, hands in his pockets before the woman could say anything else.

…

The next day, Alexander walked down the hall to Ironwood's office, knocking and entering after a call for him to enter. He stepped in with a conspiratorial smirk on his face that only grew wider when he noticed Jacques Schnee standing next to his daughter Winter. They both turned, Winter inclined her head in recognition, while Jacques's held a small glimmer of confusion, as if he recognized Alexander, but couldn't quite place him.

Alexander walked over, and held his hand out. "Mr. Schnee, a pleasure to meet you again." He said, sarcasm dripping from his every word. Jacques took the offered hand, shaking it while his eyes searched Alexander's face, trying to remember who he was. Winter's eyes widened in surprise when Jacques failed to respond, simply releasing his hand.

"Mr. Schnee, our business can be continued another time, but I have to talk to Specialist Wallace and your daughter privately. Feel free to come see me another time, preferably next week." Ironwood said, motioning toward the door. Jacques left, looking affronted at being kicked out with such finality.

"Now, to business I actually care about." Ironwood said, shuffling some papers together on his desk before putting them in a drawer. Looking up, he noticed Alexander's raised eyebrow. "Don't worry, Alexander, I'm sure Miss Schnee would like to hear your debrief. She holds as much love for her father as you do." He said, and Alexander unclenched hands he didn't even realize had been pulled into fists and nodded.

"The compound was easy to get into. Seems the security was there almost entirely to keep the miners from escaping. I only had to take out one guard before I cut in through the fence. His key card got me into a miner bunkhouse, the guard area, and the supply building. The GPS Dr. Polendina had preprogrammed was given to the miners in the bunkhouse, who escaped through the same fence I entered through after I blew up the surveillance building, the guardhouse, and the gate to the guard area, as well as blasted a hole through another part of the fence. The miners made it to the hotel safely sometime around midnight. I swung by the hotel this morning to make sure, the miners were still there, and, to my knowledge, no one but us and the hotel staff know they are there." Alexander said, pulling out a Scroll, tapping on it a few times.

"I just sent my full report to you. Anything in there you want clarification on, as always, call me anytime." He said, putting his Scroll away when Ironwood's chimed. "If that is all…" Alexander trailed off, shifting his weight uncomfortably.

"It is. Good day, Specialist. Miss Schnee, if you would escort him out, I would greatly appreciate it." Ironwood picked up his Scroll and started reading through Alexander's report as both young adults nodded and left his office, the door clicking shut quietly behind them.

Both were silent until the elevator doors shut, and Winter turned to Alexander, her face a stern mask. "What is a nineteen year old doing as a Specialist already?" She asked, and she was clearly annoyed, though she hid it well.

Instead of responding to her question, Alexander stared straight forward at the closed doors while he asked a question of his own. "What is a nineteen year old doing losing their place as heiress to the largest company on Remnant?" Alexander smirked when Winter's mouth and eyes widened slightly in shock before she gathered herself.

"And, for you information, Miss Schnee," Alexander turned to Winter, activating his semblance so his eyes started glowing, "I've legally been a Specialist since I was fifteen." He turned and walked out of the elevator, leaving the former heiress to dash after him to catch up. When she did so, she fell in step next to him as he walked through the atrium of Atlas Academy's academic building, her eyes fixed on his face, a few inches above hers.

"Why did you become a Specialist so young?" Winter asked, causing Alexander to falter momentarily in his pace.

"Ask your father about the Jaeger Program next chance you get, Miss Schnee. He should know all about it. After all, he bankrolled it." Alexander replied, not looking at Winter as he spoke. She looked confused for a moment before her face set into a grim mask of determination as they walked out the doors of the academic building.

"I will find out. And, whatever, my father or his friends have done, they will pay." She said, tilting her head in confusion when Alexander laughed.

"That'll be a hell of a promise to keep, Winter. Best of luck." He said, as the bell for the end of the class period rang out over the school's intercom. Shooting Winter a wink, he backed up away from her, disappearing into the crowds of students as they flooded out of the academic building. Looking this way and that as she followed Alexander's trajectory through the crowd, Winter finally stopped, huffing in anger.

…

Two days later, Alexander walked through the hallways of the academic building as class let out, causing students of every year to stop, straighten up, and clasp their hands behind their backs when they recognized the uniform he wore. He threw the door to a lecture hall open, waiting at the top of the stairs, staring down at the professor in the pit of the lecture hall.

"Can I help you with something, Specialist?" Dr. Polendina said as his gaze rose to greet Alexander. He packed his papers into his briefcase, pulling it off the table it rested on, ascending the steps of the lecture hall to meet Alexander as the last few students left.

"Ironwood told me you had something for me." Was all Alexander said, his thoughts distracted by the encroaching rally, the location of which had been moved to Mantle Park to accommodate the constantly growing number of people that Dr. Polendina's statisticians estimated would be showing up.

Dr. Polendina nodded, a knowing smile on his face as he put his briefcase down on a desk, opening it back up and peering inside. "Indeed I do. Something that you are likely familiar with, though with some small tweaks." He pulled a box out of the briefcase before opening the box and pulling out a small earpiece, hardly larger than a thimble that he put in Alexander's hand, when he held it out. Alexander fixed it in his right ear, making sure it fit before he shook his head a few times every which way, and smiling when it didn't budge.

"That, unlike the ones you used while in the Program, will allow you to respond to us without an attached mic. It is remotely activated, and only the general and I have the authority to do that. Once activated, we will hear everything you hear, letting us combine it with our camera feeds from the buildings surrounding the park, to give us the best idea possible of what is going on. That way, we can feed you the intel you need to hopefully find your missing person. All good?" Dr. Polendina asked, and Alexander nodded again, smiling wider.

"Thank you so much. I'll be sure to return it in one piece." Alexander said, hugging the doctor.

"No need, my boy. Keep it. Ironwood and I can use it to get in touch with you easier in the future, if you would like." Dr. Polendina smiled when Alexander nodded. "Well, then, since I won't see you until after the operation, I would like to say good luck. I hope everything turns out how you would like it to." Alexander smiled in appreciation and the two nodded their farewells as Alexander turned and left the lecture hall while Dr. Polendina stayed behind to rearrange his briefcase.

…

The rally had, at best, an uncomfortable tension in the air under the midafternoon sun. Alexander slipped through the crowd, watching the stage where Ghira, a woman who must be his wife Kali, and their daughter Blake sat in chairs, talking quietly with the miners that Alexander had freed a few days ago. The Faunus in the crowd that Alexander passed all stood with visible discomfort, looking around carefully at the humans in the crowd, as if waiting for something to go wrong. Not that their fear was misplaced. The last time any Faunus gathered en masse in Atlas, four Faunus died and three more were critically injured.

And the crowd today, from what Alexander could see, and what Ironwood was telling him over the earpiece, the crowd was close to evenly mixed, though the majority definitely went to the Faunus. Alexander slipped through the crowd inconspicuously in dark cargo pants, his combat boots, a white t-shirt, a black hat, and a loose plain blue windbreaker over his t-shirt. His pistols were holstered along his ribs, though he hoped not to use them.

"I don't like this, Ironwood." He muttered, looking around the crowd, noting that the humans at the rally seemed to match the Faunus in numbers.

"What's wrong? Recognize someone who shouldn't be here?" Ironwood asked, his disembodied voice being transmitted from the _Yggdrasil_.

"No, nothing like that. I can't place it. Something just feels _off_." Alexander said, eyes darting around the crowd, looking for either Raven or anything suspicious.

"Alright, well, all we can do right now is keep our eyes open." Ironwood said, and Alexander nodded, continuing to push through the crowd.

As Alexander started to near the stage, Ghira Belladonna stood up to the podium and leaned into the mic as he cleared his throat. A hush fell over the crowd as Alexander felt the head miner's eyes land on him, and he saw his mouth drop in surprise. Alexander made eye contact with the man and slowly placed a finger over his lips in a shushing motion. The man closed his mouth and nodded almost imperceptibly. At that moment, Alexander heard something over his earpiece, drawing him away from Ghira's speech as it begun.

"About twenty paces away at your 7, Alexander, got someone who fits the description." Ironwood's voice sounded in his ear, and Alexander slowly turned his head, but stopped turning when he caught sight of, out of the corner of his eye, a white Nevermore mask and spiking black hair.

"Got it." He said, quietly, slowly backing up and making his way through the crowd so that he was to her immediate right, only one person separating them. Suddenly, to his surprise, she took the mask off, turning and fixing him with a crimson eyed stare.

"Better than you have tried before, little assassin." She said, just loud enough for him to hear. The man between them got out from between them, disappearing into the crowd. She didn't even react. "And better than you will continue to try. You will not be the first, nor will you be the last, but I will be your last foe, if you intend to go through with what you plan."

"You misunderstand me, Miss Branwen." Alexander said, his eyes still fixed forward on Ghira at the podium, watching as Ghira backed up, sitting back down next to his wife and daughter as the lead miner stood up to start speaking. Finally, he turned and stared back at her, activating his semblance, causing his eyes to respond and glow. "You owe far too much to Yang, Tai, and Qrow for me to kill you."

She sighed sadly, her eyes drifting shut momentarily in her sadness. "I won't go back. I _can't_ go back." She said, her jaw set in determination, her left hand flexing and unflexing on the hilt of her sword. She looked back at the stage, looking over the crowd, causing Alexander to do the same, noticing how the tension seemed to be mounting by the second. Everyone seemed on edge, not just the two of them. "Something bad is about to happen. I know you feel it too." She looked back at Alexander with sympathetic eyes.

"You are a good person. I can tell, and I regret leaving you to deal with this. So, I'll give you a choice. Do what you came to do and follow me, abandon the Belladonna's and the miners, or, abandon your search momentarily, let me leave, and help them, perhaps save some lives today." With that, Raven put the mask back on, and turned away from Alexander, walking briskly towards the edge of the crowd. Alexander stared after her for a moment before looking back up on stage and walking as fast as he could through the crowd without drawing too much attention.

"Ironwood, get police, military, whatever is available, down here. This rally is about to get FUBAR real quick, and we need to contain it before it grows city wide. I'm going to try to protect the Belladonnas and the miners, hopefully get them out before it gets too bad… " Alexander trailed off when he was mere meters from the stage and a sharp crack rang out, the lead miner's head exploding from a sniper shot. And like that, like a match to a fire dust keg, the crowd went manic.

Alexander cracked an elbow into a human's skull after said man pulled a knife out and stabbed the Faunus next to him. Stepping over the crumpled figure, Alexander bulled his way through the rest of the crowd, knocking people forcefully out of his way. He jumped up on the stage, running forward, taking his hat off, and unzipping his windbreaker. The miners immediately recognized him, rushing to his side as the rally turned into a riot. A stray rock flew up to the stage, near Alexander's head. Catching it, he bounced it in his palm once before turning and whipping it back into the crowd.

"Who the hell are you?" Ghira asked him, eyes filled with fear, turned slightly away from Alexander, his daughter in his arms, and his wife latched onto him in fear.

"With all due, respect, Mister Belladonna, that really doesn't fucking matter right now. You just watched a man's head get blown off and your peaceful rally has now devolved into a full blown race riot. What should matter is that I'm the only guy who gives a damn enough to make sure you all get the hell out as safely as possible." He said, pushing the much larger man's shoulder, directing the group to the back of the stage and down the stairs in the back.

A man tried to rush at them, a rock held in his hand, poised to throw, but Alexander drew and put two bullets in the man's leg before he even focused on the group in front of him. Several miners, Kali, and Blake yelped at the blatant violence as the group continued on towards the edge of the park, Alexander walking backwards, keeping an eye on the crowd. The group drew to a halt when a flash of white in the encroaching crowd drew Alexander's attention.

He turned and pointed at the treeline they were a few meters from. "Get there, and stay there, until I get back." Ghira nodded, ushering them into the trees, hiding against them as Alexander sprinted toward the crowd, eyes watching for another flash of white. Moments later, a flash of white hair splayed through the air as Winter Schnee, blood trickling down from her temple, tried to hold off four Faunus that were attacking her. Three were only using their fists, though one had managed to find a large enough rock to do some real damage.

She kicked one in the stomach, putting him down momentarily. Another one fell when a well timed glyph blocked a punch, shattering his hand in the process before she landed an elbow to his temple, dropping him to the ground. A pit formed in Alexander's stomach when he noticed the man with the stone rise up behind her, hand cocked back. A yell of warning formed in his throat as the rock descended and his stomach dropped when Winter did. Alexander's pistols rose up and, before the Faunus could do anything else but raise the rock again, bullets ripped through his chest, spraying blood. Her other assailants were dispatched in the same fashion, Alexander's pistols barking repeatedly.

He bent down when he reached her, her hair splayed out on the ground, having come out of her bun, small bruises forming on her chin, scratches, cuts and bruises all over her forearms, and blood still flowing from the cut on her temple. Alexander picked her up, throwing her over his left shoulder as he ran, noticing how spread out the riot had now become. Where before it had been relegated to the area in front of the stage, a number of fights had made their way to the area behind the stage. Everyone that got in his way was immediately incapacitated by a shot or two to the thigh, dropping them almost immediately every time. Anyone standing after that took a bullet to the shoulder

Alexander finally found the others and he holstered his pistol, pulling Winter down into a bridal carry as they ran out of the park, Alexander yelling location and number of people to Ironwood over his earpiece. After a minute or two of waiting by the road, a bullhead descended from the sky, the side door opening to reveal several men in Atlas military uniform. Alexander and the others quickly boarded, and once every nonmilitary personnel was sitting down, and strapped in, including Winter, Alexander started talking to both the Faunus and the military men.

"Yes, for the love of everything holy, go straight to the _Yggdrasil._ They already know we'll be arriving." Alexander said to the pilot, before turning back and walking into the carrier bay, stopped by one of the Privates on board, barely a year or two older than Alexander himself.

"I have to say, sir, it is an honor and a privilege to meet someone such as yourself, Specialist Wallace. Truly, it is." The Private said, with such enthusiasm, Alexander could only nod uncomfortably before walking over to the Faunus and the unconscious Winter.

"So, Mister Belladonna, to answer your earlier question, I'm Specialist Wallace, and you and your friends are, currently, in the protective custody of the Atlas Military, until General Ironwood deemes that it is safe for you to return to Menagerie. Any other questions?" Alexander asked, eyebrows raised in mock interest while he stared at the White Fang leader, who looked momentarily flustered.

"Y-Yeah, more than a few, but let's start with the big ones! What the hell happened back there?! Why were you at our rally?! And, one more time, what the HELL happened back there?!" He yelled at Alexander, arms gesturing wildly, looking like he wanted to stand up and start pacing inside the bullhead.

"I was at your rally for reasons that don't concern you. As for what happened, if I were to guess, somebody was hired to start a riot. And, frankly, they succeeded. Of the humans attending the rally caught on camera, a conservative estimate says probably half of the humans were hired or recruited to start a riot, given how quickly they attacked after the shot." Alexander said, relaying information Ironwood had fed him moments ago. Ghira looked incredibly confused, looking around the bullhead at the other passengers.

"Who would do something like that?" He said, looking at Alexander hopefully, hoping that he wouldn't confirm his fears.

"You know exactly the man who would do that. He's the same man who disowned his own daughter for aspiring to join the military. He's the man who knowingly keeps his miners in detrimental working conditions. Unfortunately, neither of those things are illegal, merely immoral. And I would be shocked if we were somehow able to connect him to this." Alexander replied, with a sigh. He turned, walking into the cockpit of the bullhead, watching the world fly by the windows, and that is where he stayed for the next half hour of the flight, until the _Yggdrasil_ came into sight.

Once they landed, they were met with a medical team that loaded Winter onto a stretcher and rushed her away while Alexander led the Faunus across the landing bay and into the ship itself. They followed him deep into the ship to Ironwood's office, where they were met with several men in Private's uniforms, who took the Faunus to the rooms they would be staying in for the time being, leaving Alexander alone to talk to Ironwood. He took a deep breath and pushed the door open, stepping in.

When he stepped inside, he saw Ironwood, in the middle of a phone call with someone. He looked up, noticed Alexander and put a finger up to tell Alexander to wait. "Yes, Jacques, your daughter was hurt." A long pause. "I know that, Jacques, but perhaps her mother or siblings would care to know." Another pause and Ironwood's face was a strange mixture of anger and sadness. "Very well, I'll be sure to give Klein a call momentarily. Good bye, Jacques." He sent a message before leaning back in his chair with a sigh. The Scroll was tossed onto his desk haphazardly, running a hand down his face exasperatedly.

"I hate that man. I truly do." Ironwood exhaled heavily, looking up at Alexander. "So, what have you got for me, Alexander? Any good news?" Alexander pursed his lips and shook his head, and Ironwood cursed under his breath.

"The only thing I have is that, for the time being at the very least, Miss Branwen does not seem to harbor any ill intent towards her family, and she doesn't seem to intend to return to Patch or even Vale anytime soon. I'll just have to keep trying." Alexander said, with a very subtle frown. Ironwood stood up from his desk, walked around it, and grabbed Alexander's shoulder in a firm grip, guiding him toward the door.

"Come with me, I think it's about time I met our guests, and afterwards, we'll go see how Winter's doing in the sick bay. Alright" Ironwood asked, stopping at the door to wait for Alexander's nod before letting go of his shoulder and leading him through the airship to the temporary quarters of the Faunus from the rally.

Ironwood slowly pushed open the door, and walked inside, followed by Alexander a step behind him. Looking inside, they found a small main room with two large round tables taking up most of the space. The main room opened up to four different bunk rooms, each of which had six bunks in them. The Faunus would be sharing the bunk rooms with some lower level engineers, but the only engineers in the quarters were asleep, having only just gotten off a shift.

"Good day to you all," Ironwood began, before he noticed the young Faunus, Blake, in a dress similar to her mother's, her ears twitching as she tried to hide behind her father, who lay a gentle hand on her back and gave her a firm push toward Ironwood, who had crouched down to be close to her level. His expression was softer than Alexander had ever seen it, a small smile on his face as he greeted the young Faunus.

"You must be Blake." He said, and the girl nodded, her cat ears twitching nervously as her amber eyes darted back and forth between Alexander and Ironwood. "My name's James. That one over there, I think you've met him already, his name's Alexander. How are you doing, Blake?" His voice, in contrast to his normal tone, which was commanded respect, was gentle, his words slow and deliberate.

"I'm fine." She said, quietly, her cat ears twitching again as her eyes settled on Ironwood. He tilted his head to the side with the same smile that seemed almost sad.

"You're a strong girl, Blake, but it is perfectly okay to be scared. Everybody gets scared. The key is to not let your fear control you. Does that make sense?" He asked, smiling wider when Blake nodded. "Good. Now, while you're here, you take care of your parents for me, okay, Blake? Pretend you're a Hunter like Alexander, and protect the people you love. Go on." He said, motioning towards Blake's parents, and she walked back over with a smile into hugs from her parents, whose own faces were split with smiles at seeing their child happy, even if it's momentary.

Ironwood straightened up, his expression sobering, saying, "The mess hall is open until midnight, and opens at eight. If you have any questions that you need to ask me or Alexander, grab a passerby and ask to speak to Specialist Wallace or General Ironwood. I'm sorry that you had to experience today's events, i truly hope that everything only gets better for you all." He turned and stepped out, followed closely by Alexander, closing the door behind them. Ironwood took a long breath, before letting it out slowly, pulling his scroll out of his pocket to check a message.

"Alright. Go home for the day, Alexander. The doctors are keeping Winter under sedative until tomorrow. Come see me in the morning." Ironwood said with a detached tone as he walked down the hallway, away from Alexander.

…

Alexander stepped off the bullhead the next day, a few hours before noon. Walking into the ship, Alexander had to suppress his annoyance when just about every military personnel, regardless of position or rank, stopped and snapped him a salute as he passed. When he reached Ironwood's office, he knocked on the door before stepping in.

Ironwood met him at the door and Alexander turned and followed after Ironwood. "How are you doing today, sir?" He asked, prompting a heavy sigh from Ironwood as they walked.

"I have had to talk to Jacques Schnee three times in the past day. So, not well." Ironwood said, making Alexander snort to suppress his laughter. "His eldest daughter, his own child, was hurt, and he couldn't care less about it. Winter's mother is, at any time, fairly intoxicated at best, and her younger brother is growing to be a smaller version of Jacques. The only people in that house that care about her are her younger sister and the family's butler Klein."

"So, is anyone going to come see her?" Alexander asked, when they stepped in the elevator. Ironwood smiled a bit, looking sideways at him.

"Well, we are. And, with any luck, Klein and her sister will be joining us as well." Ironwood responded. The elevator was quiet until the elevator dinged, the door opening to reveal the sick ward. They stepped out, and Ironwood walked confidently down the hallway, Alexander following close behind.

Ironwood opened a door suddenly, and they both, for lack of a better word, barged in, startling the occupants of the room, all three heads snapping to look at them. One of them, obviously, was Winter, sitting up in bed, the blankets pulled up to her stomach. Another, a young girl in a light blue skirt that looked exactly like Winter, stood with an air of authority and poise that could only come from another Schnee, must have been Weiss. The man with them, a brown haired balding man with a mustache, was dressed well in a black vest, black pants, a white button up, and a blue tie. A chain ran from a button on his vest to what must have been a watch in a pocket of his vest. A calming smile was on his face, but his eyes conveyed a level of protectiveness that almost startled Alexander, before he recognized Ironwood, and his smile widened.

"Ah, General, always a pleasure. Snowflake, why don't you introduce yourself?" He said, giving Weiss a small nudge, causing her to turn to completely face the two men in the doorway, and a light shone on her full face for the first time, illuminating the faintest dusting of bruises along her jaw. Alexander noticed Ironwood straighten up next to him momentarily before he relaxed, walking over and crouching down in front of Weiss, extending a hand to shake hers.

"Hello, I am Weiss Schnee. Pleasure to meet you both." She said, with a voice that was high pitched, though not quite shrill. Ironwood smiled before straightening up.

"Hello, Miss Schnee, I'm General James Ironwood. It's a pleasure to meet you as well." He said, looking back at Alexander, whose eyes were roaming Weiss's body, dissecting every movement she made, his eyes glowing slightly and full of concern. He shook his head to clear it before walking forward, crouching and shaking Weiss's hand as well.

"I'm Specialist Alexander Wallace, Miss Schnee. It truly is a pleasure. How are you today?" He asked, a comforting smile on his face, a pit growing in his stomach when Weiss's eyes sparked with mild panic, her shoulders tensing.

"I'm just fine, thank you for asking." She said, shoulders relaxing when Alexander nodded before straightening up, looking over at the butler, who had his hand extended.

"I don't believe we've ever met. I'm Specialist Alexander Wallace. And you are?" He asked, shaking the offered hand.

"I'm but a humble butler, Specialist, but my name is Klein Sieben. I'm glad you could join us." He said, his kind smile never faltering.

"Cadet Schnee, how are you feeling?" Ironwood said, walking over and picking up her chart, reading through it briefly, flipping through it quickly.

"Just some aches and pains. Doctors said that they were only really concerned about my concussion. One of them said that I must have had some sort of guardian angel watching over me. Several people at the rally didn't make it out alive, from what I heard." She said, grief washing through her voice. Klein's and Weiss's faces echoed a similar sentiment, as their smiles fell a bit.

"Yes, well, most of the people there didn't have a Specialist to pull them out before something too bad happened." Ironwood mentioned offhandedly, and Alexander blushed a bit when Klein's gaze snapped to him.

"Ah, Specialist Wallace, you have my gratitude. I don't know what I would have done if we had lost Winter." He said, smiling wider when Alexander started to shift in discomfort. Winter and Weiss looked over at him immediately, eyes wide, with identical looks of confusion on their faces, making Alexander smile at how similar they looked.

"I was just in the right place at a less than ideal time. If I had been faster, she wouldn't even have a concussion. " Alexander said, trying to wave off the gratitude, looking up confused when Klein laughed.

"Oh, he's so modest, James. Keep him around, please." He said, his laughter falling into small chuckles. Ironwood smiled a bit sadly, hanging the chart on the end of the bed.

"I'd love to, but he seems dead set on getting his Huntsman license, though. Top of his class at Beacon, you know." James said to Klein, seeming to momentarily forget that they weren't the only occupants of the room. Winter looked at Alexander, shocked, while Weiss looked more intrigued than anything else.

"Oh, really, do you enjoy it there? Our Little Snowflake here has been talking to me for a few years about going to Beacon." Klein said, a smile still on his face, as Alexander looked down at Weiss.

"You'd love it. I do. The academy and the grounds are beautiful, the classwork is interesting and challenging, and the students and faculty are among some of the best I have ever met, both professionally and personally. Do you not want to attend Atlas?" He said, nodding in understanding when Weiss shook her head to answer his question.

"I want to be like my grandfather." She said, making Alexander and Ironwood smile.

"That is a truly admirable goal, Miss Schnee, and I wish you the best of luck." He said, looking over at Klein when a hand landed on Weiss's shoulder.

"It was lovely to meet you, Specialist. If I got you Scroll number from the General, would that be the best way to get in touch with you in the future, to answer questions Miss Schnee may have about Beacon?" He said, and Alexander took a moment before he nodded, his eyes searching the butler's face, but finding only the man's kind smile. "Lovely. I'll be in touch, then. General? Snowflake?" He said, looking down at her, and when she nodded, the two left the room, followed closely by Ironwood.

"So, you're still in school?" Winter asked, after the others had left, causing Alexander to turn around in response before he nodded.

"Yes, second year, same as you." He said, suddenly slightly uncomfortable.

"So, you became a Specialist before you attended any Academy?" She asked, and Alexander nodded.

"Why, what did you think had happened?" He asked, head tilted questioningly.

"Well, I thought you were just some crazy genius kid that got into Atlas Academy at the age of eleven, or something, or you got in at fourteen and graduated in one year. I dunno." She said, looking at wall across from her.

"I tried looking into Project Jaeger. I asked my father about it and he went silent, got real pale, wouldn't answer any question I asked him. Any files I tried to pull were heavily redacted. The only things that weren't redacted was a list of one hundred names, one of which was yours, and another list, of about one hundred and twelve people, that your name didn't appear on, but ninety nine of the previous names did, alongside an Atlesian Officer, several Privates, and some independent contractors. What's that about?" She asked, looking at him questioningly.

"The first list were the names of all the children who were to be part of the Jaeger Program, to try to train the best Huntsman and Huntresses in history, to train Atlas's next generation of Specialists to be better than any before them." he started, before his voice became quiet, almost mute in volume. "The second list is a list of all the people involved with the Jaeger Program that died. I guess you could call me the last man standing." He said, his jaw set as he turned to leave the room, but stopped.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry you had to go through whatever you did. I'm sorry my father, from how you talk about him, more than likely bankrolled years of suffering for you. Is there anything that I can do?" She asked, tears pricking the edges of her eyes, making her wipe them away angrily.

"Be a better person than your father, and help your sister be a better person than him too. My friends wanted to help better the world. Help me do that for them." He said, without turning around, walking out of her room.

As he walked down the hall, he felt his Scroll buzz, and he pulled it out of his pocket to see that Ozpin was calling him. Hitting the answer button, he brought the phone up to his ear.

"Hello, Headmaster, I hope everything's going alright. What can I do for you?" He asked, stepping into the elevator.

"No, sadly, not everything is going well. I'm afraid we have to talk about something I'd rather not." He heard from the other end as the elevator doors shut.

…

 **A/N: Hey all, hope you enjoyed the chapter, I enjoyed writing it. Questions, comments, concerns, as always, can be directed to either the review area or to my private messages. I'd love to hear back from more of you.**

 **Thanks again to Bulba Fett, for betaing the chapter.**

 **Bulba Fett: Sa dudes, follow dis rit 'er…*cough cough* sorry, my 'beach bum' came out for a second there...Favorite this plz? Maybe leave a review? I dunno, it'll make Anonymous happy I guess...**

 **See you all again next time!**


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Chapter 5 of this story was rewritten, and has been reuploaded, due to author displeasure with the previous rendition of the chapter after it had already been put out.

Disclaimer: We do not own RWBY in any way. This is a fan written story, obviously, and all rights belong to Rooster Teeth Productions. Please support the official release.

…

Chapter 5 (Edited and Reuploaded): Fallout

…

"There are no secrets to success.

It is the result of preparation, hard work,

And learning from failure."

-General Colin Powell

…

Six Years and Five Months before the Battle of Beacon

The sun had long since left the sky, and Amber, Quentin, and Uranus stood in front of a warehouse, having spent the better part of a week tracking various drug dealers to this warehouse. Vale Police encircled the warehouse, rifles and pistols drawn, ready to charge in whenever Amber gave the signal for the bust to start.

"Hey, look at this, Amber. I think I just found out what Alexander has been doing all week." Uranus said, extending a hand holding a Scroll to her. She hit play and watched as, on the screen, a Faunus standing at a podium lost his head and someone jumped up on stage moments later. A hat and windbreaker came off, the figure turned to look out over the crowd that was quickly devolving into a riot, and Amber found herself staring at a grainy image of her partner as he ushered a group of Faunus off stage.

"Oh, I hope he made it out okay. That riot looked terrible." She said, staring at the image of her teammate for a moment longer before handing the Scroll back to Uranus. She was silent for a few more moments before she turned to look at the warehouse.

"Alright, every major player in the Vale drug ring should be in there right now." She brought a hand up to an earpiece, to broadcast to all the officers around the warehouse. "Advance to the doors. When we go in, we go in hard and fast. No one gets past us. Try to capture if you can, incapacitate if possible. Killing is a last resort." She said, and motioned for Quentin and Uranus to follow her as they and the officers advanced on the doors. Amber stood behind Uranus on one side of a door, Quentin on the other, with several officers behind him.

"Go!" Amber yelled, and doors in several places around the warehouse were wrenched open partially, only for it to explode outwards as the entire warehouse went up in a massive fireball. Shrapnel flew outward from the building with a massive shockwave and a wall of flame, throwing the police officers hither and yon about the area. Amber stood her ground for a few moments, wind surrounding in an attempt to protect her, Uranus, and Quentin from the massive explosion, several pieces of flying metal striking her barrier, some flying through and leaving behind deep gashes as she stood, eyes aflame with determination and her Maiden powers, until she was overwhelmed and they too went flying, several feet into the air, easily over ten meters away from where the building once stood.

She lay groaning, her aura completely depleted, everything hurting, as she turned her head to either side, bodies of officers littering the scene around the smoldering remains of the warehouse. The only thing she could see by looking around, was, off to her right, Uranus struggling to sit up, several dangerously large pieces of the metal walls of the warehouse littering his torso, a steadily growing pool of blood around him. Far more blood than a human body should lose.

Past him, she could just barely make out Quentin's face, eyes glassy, blood trickling down from the corner of his mouth. Looking down, towards Uranus's legs, she saw one of Quentin's legs, at an odd angle to how it should be lying if it were still connected to his body, and that was when she noticed Quentin's right arm off in the distance. She felt bile rise up in her throat, but she clamped a hand over her mouth, even though that action sent lances of pain shooting through her arm.

Tears flowed freely from her eyes as she looked up at the sky above her, staring at the shattered moon, before a man's smiling face blocked her view. Bright orange hair, swept off to the right side of his face, a bowler hat, and cruel green eyes was all she could really make out as her vision started to swim.

"Sorry, kid, it's just business." He said, his smile not budging as he brought a foot back, and delivered a swift kick to Amber's temple, and everything went black.

…

As Alexander walked down the hall of the sick bay on the Yggdrasil, he felt his Scroll buzz, and he pulled it out of his pocket to see that Ozpin was calling him. Hitting the answer button, he brought the phone up to his ear.

"Hello, Headmaster, I hope everything's going alright. What can I do for you?" He asked, stepping into the elevator.

"No, sadly, not everything is going well. I'm afraid we have to talk about something I'd rather not." He heard from the other end as the elevator doors shut.

…

The next day, after the sun had gone down, Alexander walked with Ozpin, shoulders squared, and eyes smoldering in anger as they approached the nurse's station of Vale General Hospital. They stopped at the nurse's station, and before she looked up, she said, "I'm sorry, visiting hours are over. I'm afraid you'll have to go home."

"I'm afraid we won't be leaving." Ozpin said, a smile on his face that looked forced, his eyes glinting dangerously with the same anger as Alexander's. At the sound of his voice, the nurse looked up, surprised to see the two men before her.

"I'm sorry, Headmaster, Specialist. Of course you can stay. Is there anything I can do to help you?" She asked, frantically scrambling to recover from her mistake. Ozpin just shook his head, and walked off, Alexander not far behind. After a short walk, they walked into a room with two officers outside, the door of which had to be unlocked by one of the officers. Inside, Amber lay on a hospital bed, blankets pulled up to her stomach. Her arms were swathed with bandages that continued under her hospital gown, and reached up to cover her neck. More bandages were wrapped around her forehead, and even in her drug induced slumber, she looked pained.

"The doctors told me that she will likely make a full recovery, if that's any small consolation." Ozpin said while Alexander stood frozen next to her bed, tears gathering at the edge of his eyes. He wiped them away, took a deep breath, looking around the room before he finally locked eyes with Ozpin.

"And they're the only survivors?" He asked, and Ozpin nodded.

"The other two were much worse off, Mr. Olympia having lost a dangerous amount of blood, compounded on internal bleeding, and well, Mr. Musashi lost an arm and the bottom half of a leg. Both, to my knowledge, are still in surgery. Preliminary guesses say that Mr. Olympia will recover fully, though they still have some reasonable concerns about Mr. Musashi." Ozpin said, and Alexander looked back over at Amber, a sad smile on his face.

"They'll pull through. Amber will kick their asses if they don't." Alexander said, with a laugh, causing Ozpin to smile as well.

"She is a hard woman to keep down. Now, while your team recovers, should you wish, you can continue your work with James in Atlas for the time being. Until such a time that I deem Team AQUA a reactivated team, you will technically be on loan to the Atlesian military, though I expect you to keep up with your academics, as your team will. And, of course you may come visit and check on them as much as you like." Ozpin said, waiting patiently as the proposal sat in the air for a long minute while Alexander mulled it over.

"Alright. Something to keep me busy, yeah? Might as well." Alexander said, and Ozpin nodded, gently tapping his fingers on his cane.

"Indeed. I find that doing something often helps ease the burdens of the mind. Well, I shall take my leave, see if I can't check up on your teammates." Ozpin said, turning to leave when Alexander said nothing, but stopping in the doorway, his fingers tapping once again on his cane the only sign to Alexander that he was still in the room.

"Ask Miss Harvest about the old child's tale of the Maidens when she wakes up. It might help her through her recovery. She always was fond of that story." Ozpin said, in a cryptic tone that made Alexander turn to watch Ozpin walk out, confusion etched on his face.

…

Six Years and Four Months before the Battle of Beacon

"Ice Queen, how're you enjoying your freedom from that damned sick bay?" Alexander said, a broad smile on his face as he looked at his Scroll screen as he walked the halls of Vale General, having just left Quentin in physical therapy.

"It was dreadful. The food was horrendous. I didn't even need to be there as long as I was. Those psychopaths decided that I should stay a week longer than I needed to. Fools, really." Winter said haughtily, making Alexander laugh, and drawing the attention of a few nurses near him.

"Oh, Princess, I do apologize that the service wasn't up to your standards. Truly, I am sorry." Alexander said, placing a hand to his chest as he spoke mockingly, to which Winter merely scoffed.

"Well, sorry to cut this so short, Princess, but I only had time to check in real quick. I have to be off, or my team leader will be pretty cross with me. I'll talk to you soon." Alexander said, hanging up a few moments later when Winter wished him farewell. Alexander pocketed his Scroll and pushed open a door to the room where Amber was sitting nervously on her hospital bed, dressed in her combat clothes, one of her spares that she kept for this exact purpose when one was ruined.

"You alright Amber?" Alexander asked with a smile, voice upbeat until he noticed a scared look on her face.

"Shit, Amber, what's wrong?" He asked, immediately getting more serious. She didn't answer for a long moment, seeming to summon courage from within herself.

"Why haven't you asked me about the Maidens? Ozpin said he told you to ask me about it." She asked, and Alexander laughed.

"Oh, wow, Amber, I completely forgot about that. I'm sorry, I had a lot of things to remember. Must have slipped through the cracks." Alexander said, with an apologetic smile. Amber nodded in understanding, though she still seemed nervous.

"Do you want to tell me the story?" Alexander asked, and she nodded with a strained smile. Alexander sat down in the chair next to her bed while Amber sat cross legged on the bed.

"Well, it's a little bit more than just a story, but I'll get to that." She started, shifting a bit under Alexander's gaze.

"Well, once, a very long time ago, very far away, deep in the forest, there lived an old wizard, a kind man who wielded extraordinary abilities."

…

Six Years and Three Months before the Battle of Beacon

A dropship shot over the Atlesian tundra. Inside, a dozen Atlas Cadets in white flight suits listened with rapt attention to the similarly dressed Specialist yelling to be heard over the engine and the chatter between the two pilots. "Remember, this light will turn green when we reach the drop zone! The doors will already be open by then, so the second the light turns green, you jump! Now, today we are practicing what is called a HALO jump! Watch your clocks, because you'll be falling for two minutes before you open your chute! Too early, and you run the risk of not landing in our designated drop zone! Too late, and you come in too hot, and injure yourself! Everyone's gear good?!" Alexander yelled, watching the fourth year Atlas students nod, listening seriously to a man two years their junior as the cargo door lowered behind the Cadets.

"Good!" The light turned green over his shoulder. "Go! Go! Go!" He yelled, and the Cadets turned, leaping one after another out the back of the dropship. Alexander turned to the pilots, giving them a thumbs up and shouting his thanks to them before sprinting out the back of the ship, and flinging himself out into the open air. The air whipped past him, his eyes protected by goggles as he fell straight down, looking around to make sure everyone was in the right general area. The watch on his wrist ticked quietly next to his altimeter for what seemed like ages. Alexander watched as chutes bloomed open below him, and the Cadets seemed to stop their descent instantly. A few seconds more passed, and Alexander too pulled his chute, and it ballooned out above him, turning a free fall at terminal velocity into a controlled, relatively slow, descent. He reached the ground a minute later, boots hitting the ground hard as he jogged for a moment before he slowed to a stop.

"Well done, class. Always lovely to see our future operatives complete their first jump." Ironwood said, clapping as he walked over to Alexander, who was smiling despite his desire to remain impassive.

"Thank you for this, I wouldn't have asked you to do this, but their regular jump supervisor couldn't make it." He said, clapping a hand down on Alexander's shoulder, who only waved him off good-naturedly.

"It's no worry. I love HALO jumps. Besides, I needed the distraction, what with, well, you know." He said, and Ironwood's face fell.

"Right, how is he doing?" Ironwood asked, watching Alexander carefully, who just sighed.

"It's slow going. Quentin was already struggling so much as it was with a ruined voice box, and then stacking two new prostheses on top of that, and…" Alexander trailed off, shrugging and shaking his head.

"Well, getting back to work is all you can do, I suppose. How's your search coming along?" Ironwood said, to which Alexander shrugged his shoulders.

"Could be better. All I've got is the name Roman Torchwick. He's some two bit criminal, not really into anything big like blowing up a warehouse, just some minor theft charges. Ozpin was right all along. Someone hired Torchwick to blow that warehouse, and it sure as hell wasn't the drug dealers." Alexander said, taking his helmet and parachute off, turning to pack the chute back into the bag.

"Hardly the first time Oz has known something before we did. But he has his reasons, and he has rarely deliberately led us wrong." Ironwood responded.

"Yeah, that's what Qrow said." Alexander said, smiling when Ironwood got an annoyed look on his face.

"Damn drunk bird." He muttered, walking away, leaving behind a chuckling Alexander in a flight suit.

…

Six Years before the Battle of Beacon

"Mr. Wallace, I apologize from pulling you from your workout, but I felt that this would be the best time to do this." Ozpin said, from behind his desk. On either side of him stood General Ironwood and Qrow, who shot Alexander a crooked smile when he walked in, still wearing sweatpants and a loose t-shirt, stained with sweat from his workout with Roland. Alexander just smile at the headmaster.

"Ah, it's no problem. Roland was embarrassing me, anyway. Don't think I'll ever get within a hundred pounds of that guy in any lift, try as I might." He replied, cracking his knuckles absentmindedly.

"So, what'd you need to talk to me about?" Alexander asked, tilting his head.

"Yes, well, before we go too far into our conversation, Amber informed you of the Maidens, correct? You heard the story?" Ozpin asked, and Alexander nodded.

"Yeah, and how it's less of a story, and more of a poorly kept secret disguised as a fairy tale. Sound about right?" Alexander quirked an eyebrow, and Ozpin waited a beat before nodding affirmation.

"Indeed. Now, as you can imagine, there are a great many people who would like a Maiden's power for their own, or, failing that, would like to manipulate the Maiden to doing their bidding. That being the case, many, many years ago, someone decided to found a group of people who would dedicate as much of their time as they could to protecting the Maidens, as well as finding and eliminating threats to the Maidens. That tradition has carried on throughout the centuries alongside the Maidens. We three are some of those that make up this generation's protectors, and we would like you to join us." Ozpin said, and there was a long silence as everyone stood there waiting for Alexander's response. The Specialist stood there for a while, fidgeting occasionally as he stared at his shoes before looking up at Ozpin.

"What would this mean, exactly?" He asked, and Qrow smiled.

"Well, occasionally, you'll be running errands for Ozpin, searching for people or things, figuring out who and what is out there that knows about Amber and intends to do her harm. Outside of that, nothing much will change. Just continue doing what you do." Qrow answered.

"Alright. I'm in." Alexander said, and the three men across from him smiled.

"Good to hear. You're free to go. I will call you if we need you to do anything." Ozpin said, and Alexander turned on his heel and walked into the elevator. Once he was gone, Qrow turned to Ozpin.

"You're sure about this? He's still a kid, really." Qrow said. Ozpin shook his head, a sad smile on his face as he looked at the elevator Alexander had left through.

"He hasn't been a child for some time, Qrow. He hardly ever was. The only reason he works as hard as he does is to help people, to help his friends. If nothing else, I've just handed him another incentive." Ozpin spoke softly, barely loud enough for Qrow to hear. The Huntsman pondered the Headmaster's words for a few moments before walking into the elevator, Ironwood not far behind him, leaving the Headmaster to his thoughts.

…

Five Years and Ten Months before the Battle of Beacon

Alexander let out a heavy breath as he set the weights that had previously been across his shoulders onto the hooks that held the bar at chest height. He backed up, shaking his legs to calm the jitters caused by the adrenaline running through him. Music blasted from his earbuds as he pulled the weights off the bar, setting them on the rack nearby. A towel hit him in the face from outside his periphery, and he snatched it, wiping off his face with it. A finger tapping on his shoulder had Alexander turning around, pulling his earbuds out and pausing his music.

"You done for the day?" Uranus said, the dampness of his shirt evidence of his recently completed jog. Alexander nodded, and started walking towards the door of the weight room, throwing his towel over his shoulder as he walked out, followed closely by the sniper.

"No core today?" Uranus asked.

"Did it before I started lifting." Alexander replied as they started walking through the halls, Alexander snapping the towel at his teammate's feet with a smile that widened when Uranus jumped in surprise.

"Dude, one day, I will understand how you are up so much earlier than I am, every day, when you go to bed later than me." Uranus said, shoving Alexander's shoulder, making him stumble slightly as he laughed.

"Please, you sleep forever. Fucking bum." Alexander shot back with a smile.

"Asshole. Just because some of us like having ten hours of sleep…" He trailed off, a smile of his own on his face that changed to a look of confusion when, a minute or two later, they reached the dorms, and people were watching them nervously.

"Fuck's their problem? Why are they staring? Have they never seen someone who woke up before ten on a Saturday?" He asked, making Alexander smile again, though he too was looking around confused.

"Hell if I know. Let's just get back to our room." He said, and they started climbing the stairs, taking a minute to get to their floor. Once they got there, however, the stopped dead in their tracks, staring down the hall with shocked looks on their faces.

At the end of the hall, Amber was, frankly, beating the hell out of a guy while a first year dog Faunus stood behind her looking scared, the unconscious bodies of the guy's team on the ground around her. Alexander and Uranus ran down the hall, and pried Amber off of the guy, despite her fervent protests. Amber was so opposed to not beating the guy to death, that Alexander picked her up and threw her over his shoulder before walking her into their room, where Quentin had been blocked into the closet by a chair under the door handle.

Uranus closed the door behind him before letting Quentin out of the closet. The silent swordsman seemed disgruntled, but he followed Uranus out the door into the hallway, the door locking behind them while Alexander threw Amber down on her bed before staring at her disapprovingly, his arms crossed.

"The fuck was that?" He asked, though his tone carried only a fraction of the anger it probably should have.

"That Winchester asshole was insulting that Faunus, hitting him, pulling on his ears and shit, generally just being a piece of shit. I chased Winchester off but when I talked to the first year, I learned that he had been getting bullied for a while. I decide to take it upon myself to… incentivize Winchester to stop. His team got in the way of that." She answered, very matter of factly. Alexander scowled briefly at his team leader as he heard Goodwitch talking to the Faunus and Quentin out in the hall. He was quiet for a little while longer as his expression cleared.

"Alright." Alexander said, and Amber's mouth opened in disbelief.

"That's it? No talk about how I shouldn't get into fights I don't need to?" She asked, and he shook his head.

"Nope. I probably would have done the same thing. I'm far from being the model of emotional stability. I wholeheartedly support what you did." Alexander said, hopping up and sitting cross legged on his desk. Amber smiled, falling back to lay on her bed.

"Quick question, though, why was Quentin in the closet?" Alexander asked, and Amber shrugged.

"He was trying to do that whole rational reasoning thing, talking to me about why I shouldn't beat the piss out of Winchester. I got annoyed and pushed him in the closet, jammed the chair under the handle before I left. I should apologize." She said, raising her head to look at Alexander, who nodded his assent.

"Probably, but, for the time being, I recommend going to talk to Goodwitch, explain what happened and what not." Amber nodded and reluctantly stood up, closing the door behind her. Alexander sighed heavily, pulling his Scroll out of his pocket, smiling as he started writing Winter a message.

…

Five Years and Eight Months before the Battle of Beacon

Alexander sat with Qrow in Qrow's apartment in Vale, looking around Qrow's mostly empty apartment, in the mid afternoon, a strange eerie calm permeating the air of the apartment, a beer in the possession of each man, that they had been slowly nursing for the better part of half an hour. "So, they're really back at Tai's?" Alexander asked, and watched as Qrow sullenly nodded his head.

"He's doing alright?" Alexander inquired, and Qrow didn't respond for a long moment, simply sitting silently, finishing off his beer.

"He's doing well enough. The girls can take care of themselves well enough now that if Tai has an episode they can make do without him. I wanted to keep them here longer, give him more time to put himself together, but, well, he's their father, and I'm not. Something he is fairly keen on pointing out." Qrow said, morosely. Alexander nodded, finishing off his beer as well. He got up, opening up the fridge and grabbing two more beers. Once he had sat back down, he handed one to Qrow, popping the cap off his own.

"To absent friends and family." Qrow said, pulling his bottle back.

"May they remember us as we were. Bastards, through and through." Alexander responded, drawing a smile onto Qrow's face, making him smile in response as he drank.

…

Five Years and Six Months before the Battle of Beacon

Alexander watched with a curious look on his face as Quentin faced off against Roland, the two largest members of their respective teams having decided that something of a pissing contest was necessary. Alexander, Uranus, and Amber stood around the edge of the sparring platform behind Quentin while Lily, Ianthe, and Pausanias stood opposite them behind Roland.

Roland stood quietly in full armor, hiding any emotion on his face with his full face helm. Quentin, on the other hand, was an open book, one who's now robotic right hand was clenching and unclenching in nervous anticipation. He slowly reached said robotic hand up to grab his zanbato, pulling it from on his back into his hands, before his feet shifted so his left foot was extended toward Roland and his torso was perpendicular to the paladin. Quentin brought his zanbato above his head, cutting edge pointing skyward, and the point extended toward his opponent.

Meanwhile, Roland simply rolled his neck and hefted his axe in both hands, crouching down slightly as his right foot shifted back a bit. Neither did anything for a long second, waiting for the other to make the first move. That is, until a shot from one of Alexander's pistols shot through the space between the two.

Instantly, Quentin proved his was the quicker of the two, not that it mattered terribly, because Roland only had to fast enough to discourage Quentin getting close enough to do any damage. Quentin, on the other hand, didn't have to move quickly to avoid Roland's axe, though he had to be careful to always keep an eye on it so he didn't get caught off guard. His semblance was more than enough, however, to warn him whenever Roland intended to attack.

They stopped suddenly, both stumbling back, as a crack rang through the air, an arrow made of aura splashing apart against Quentin's aura while Roland's aura ricocheted Uranus's round up into the ceiling. Immediately, the two long range specialists joined their partners on the sparring platform, the other pairs mulling it over before they too joined their teammates on the platform.

"Man, I didn't want to fight today." Uranus said, with a bored tone, the barrel of his rifle pointed skyward while it rested on his shoulder. Alexander shook his head disappointedly.

"You always want to fight." Amber deadpanned, pulling her staff off her back, twirling it so it extended fully. Uranus smiled manically, lowering his rifle and aiming it square at Roland's chest, who, to his credit, didn't visibly react to having a high powered rifle pointed at him.

"Oh yeah…" Uranus replied, working the bolt of his rifle. Time slowed down for Alexander as he swung his gaze from his teammates to Lily, who was flourishing her sword with a smirk as she stared back at him, unintimidated. The shell casing fell slowly, seeming to take forever, and Alexander dropped low in a crouch, his left foot shifting back. The casing hit the ground with a light tinkling sound, and Alexander exploded forward like he was shot out of a cannon, burying his shoulder into Lily's stomach, throwing her back several feet onto her back.

Roland and Quentin charged once again, zanbato meeting axe hilt as Roland slowly pushed Quentin back, bit by bit, until a round winged off his chest, barely missing Ianthe, who didn't even blink, instead loosing her arrow at Alexander, stopping his rush at the recovering Lily, who had stood up by then, and starting slashing at the Specialist, forcing him back step by step. As he was backpedaling, Alexander pulled out his pistols, spinning them, and catching Lily's sword on his crossed escrima sticks.

Pushing her sword up and away, Alexander planted a foot in her stomach, making her stumble back a few steps. Meanwhile, Amber was swinging away, blasts of fire keeping Ianthe and Pausanias off balance while Uranus pelted Roland with shot after shot. Ianthe dodged out of the way of a gust of flame, and fired a shot at Quentin, the arrow slamming into his aura around his head, throwing him harshly off balance, letting Roland plant his axe head in Quentin's stomach, picking him up and tossing him a few feet away.

An unexpected drop kick to Alexander's chest dropped him to the mat for the first time in the fight, courtesy of Lily, who stabbed down at him as he lay on the ground. His eyes blazing, he rolled out of the way, flipping back to his feet. Holstering his weapons, he gestured for Lily to charge him again, and she did, her sword whistling through the air as she assaulted him. A particularly swift slash brought her sword close enough to skate off his aura, and he felt her Semblance pull some of his energy away from him, feeding her own aura.

Alexander grabbed her arm as it passed him, twisting it painfully and punching her in the throat, forcing her to stumble back when he released her arm. The specialist, however, was not done, stepping after her, and kicking her legs out from under her, slamming a fist into her stomach after she slammed down on her back. A wild punch, however, slammed into his jaw while he was distracted, and he felt his aura leeched away from him once more as he backed up a few steps.

Uranus, having run out of ammo, and not in the mood to reload, was now a whirling dervish of metal, his sickle spinning wildly around him as he too spun and flipped, forcing back Ianthe while Pausanias had forced Amber into hand to hand combat, having gotten too close for her staff to be useful, though she was holding her own just fine against the knife-wielder. Quentin and Roland, once again, were fighting to a momentary stalemate.

That is, until Alexander flipped Lily over his shoulder onto her back as hard as he could, cratering the floor, and straightening up, having finally dropped Lily into the red despite the best efforts of herself and her semblance. Alexander ran forward, jumping and vaulting up and over Roland's shoulders. The paladin, as expected, turned to face the shockingly new and immediate threat, only to have Quentin's zanbato slam into his back, forcing him forward, stumbling towards Alexander, who jumped up and kicked Roland in the face of his helm.

Roland stumbled back another few steps until Quentin caught him and held him in place for Alexander to slam his escrima sticks into his chestpiece, shocking the paladin, and forcing him to the mat. A stray arrow caught Alexander in the shoulder, carrying enough force to knock him to the mat as well, though he stood up after a moment, albeit grumbling a bit.

Alexander looked over in time to see Amber breathing heavily as she delivered a brutal straight kick into Pausanias's stomach, who simply collapsed. Uranus, meanwhile, spun and slammed the haft of his sickle into Ianthe's temple, dropping her to the mat. Immediately afterwards, he sat down, breathing heavily as Roland and Lily slowly got to their feet and walked over to join team AQUA, who had joined Uranus on the ground, some breathing heavier than others. Roland stood still for a moment, clearly debating whether or not to join them, but he hit a button in his glove, and his armor slowly retracted into the world's heaviest backpack, which he pulled off, dropping down next to his axe with a loud thud.

Roland sat down, wearing skin tight pants and a simple white t-shirt that was soaked with sweat and looked to be pulled taut across his shoulders, biceps, and chest. Kind brown eyes shone as he laughed at Uranus's mock complaints, the white bear ears that stuck out of his long matching mane of hair twitched as Lily, who had sat down next to him, scratched behind them, his arm snaking around her waist. Pausanias and Ianthe after a few moments of laying in their misery came to join them, popping down next their teammates.

Alexander sat quietly with a small smile on his face as the conversations of the other students washed over him. That is, until Amber elbowed him in the side, making him look over at her. She looked at him questioningly.

"Lien for your thoughts?" She asked quietly, to which he shrugged.

"I never got to just sit around and have fun when I was younger. Its nice to have that opportunity now." He said, and her face fell momentarily before she smiled.

"Yeah, it is pretty nice." She said, before turning to look back at the group, her head falling to rest on Alexander's shoulder.

…

Five Years and Three Months before the Battle of Beacon

In the light of the setting sun that drifted through their window, Uranus sat at his desk, Quentin's arm on the table in front of him, a socket wrench with innumerable fittings, several screwdrivers, and a crescent wrench laid out on the table around him as he tinkered with the fittings, drivers, and bearings in the arm. Quentin had been complaining earlier that day about some unwanted twitching happening in his fingers, and Uranus had insisted he fix it for his friend.

Quentin, meanwhile, was sitting at the desk next to Uranus, his feet kicked up on the desk, leaning back so the chair was on two legs while he held a book in his left hand. Amber sat studying on the other side of the room, and their resident Specialist was noticeably absent, though that was not terribly unexpected on a weekend.

Speaking of whom, Alexander was currently stalking through the rainy streets of a small town that had grown to a sizable settlement in recent years. The buildings were cozy, usually two floors, and most had been painted white, though the odd building stuck out from the monotony. It was in front of one such building, a wide two story bar across from the famously acclaimed town inn, that Alexander had stopped, the rain beating down on the black cloak he had worn for the mission.

Alexander stood silently, waiting outside the bar for a bit until he felt someone join him at his left shoulder. Looking that direction, his lips pulled into a smile when he saw Qrow, wearing a similar cloak to him.

"Well then. Let's get this done, shall we?" Qrow asked, and the two men walked into the bar, taking their cloaks off in a flourish, and hung on hooks near the door. A man at the bar waved them over, and they stopped in front of him.

"Howdy, gentlemen, what brings you two to our quiet little Higanbana?" His smile was genuine and kind as he surveyed the two people in front of him, both of whom smiled back at him. Qrow leaned in, a mock conspiratorial look on his face.

"Well, heard you all have some damn good liquor, and well, I just couldn't keep myself away." He said, and the bartender laughed, reaching below the bar and pulling out two tumblers. Reaching behind him on the shelf, his hand paused as he looked at Qrow with a smile.

"You want the good stuff, right? Top shelf?" He asked, and Qrow's smile widened.

"Of course. None for my friend here, though. You know those military types,refusing to loosen up until the job's done. Real prudes." He said, making the bartender laugh. Deciding to play along, Alexander immediately dropped all emotion.

"Well, Qrow, you say prude, I say operational integrity. We really shouldn't stay here long, I doubt this bartender can help us much." Alexander said, in a forced monotone, internally laughing when the bartender seemed to straighten up immediately.

"If there's anything I can do to help you gentlemen, I'd be happy to do it. You all, military and Huntsman and whatnot, are heroes. If I can make your jobs easier, I'd love to." He said, enthusiastically. Alexander and Qrow angled themselves away from the bartender, pretending to talk something over. They turned back after a few moments, Qrow feigning triumph, and Alexander looking disgruntled.

"Well, see, there is one thing you can do for us. There's a lady staying across the street in the inn, who comes in here every night. If you can send her a glass of this fine whiskey when she comes in, and tell her a friend wants to talk upstairs, I would be extremely grateful." Qrow said, taking a sip of said whiskey with a kind, inviting smile on his face. The bartender nodded vigorously, hurriedly writing all of that down on a notepad he kept under the bar.

"Can do, sir. Feel free to make yourself at home while you wait. Your drink is on the house tonight." The man said excitedly, motioning his various serving girls over to the bar as Qrow and Alexander ascended the stairs to the second floor.

"That was almost too easy." Alexander said, glancing worriedly at the door.

"Nonsense. I've been here dozens of times, and I can say with absolute certainty, people in this town are just genuinely that nice. Weird, isn't it?" Qrow asked, and Alexander nodded in response as they sat down at a table. Moments later, a serving girl was right next to them, asking them if they needed anything, but they both just shook their heads and she took her leave for the time being.

Several hours later, a woman wearing a Nevermore mask slinked in through the door, almost going unnoticed except for four watchful eyes on the second floor, and another pair behind the bar. She looked around the bar cautiously, as if she knew something was out of place. Her eyes landed on the cloaks by the door before she did another sweep of the bar, getting noticeably nervous that the number of patrons didn't match the amount of garments on the hooks.

Nonetheless, she sat down in a secluded corner, resting her mask on the table, revealing the crimson eyes of Raven Branwen. A minute or two later, the bartender approached Raven, tumbler in hand, extending it to her. She took it while he spoke, standing up with her hands in the air as her eyes landed on the railing of the second floor, where Qrow raised his glass in a mock toast, and Alexander threw her a mock salute. They could see her grimace from the second floor, but she joined them after a minute, mask in hand, and, as they saw when she came in, noticeably devoid of her weapon.

"Long time no see, sis. Glad to see you're doing so well for yourself." Qrow mocked, making her snarl at him in response. He simply laughed at her as she sat down at their table with a grumble and noticeable uneasiness.

"Well, I never was one for small talk. Summer's dead, but you've known that for some time. Yang's doing great at Signal, though I'm sure you knew about that already as well. So glad you've been keeping up with family, Rae." He said, and Alexander noticed the skin around her eyes tighten momentarily at the last remark.

"Miss Branwen, what did you mean when we met in Atlas that you couldn't return to Tai and Yang?" He asked, and her hand tightened around the tumbler before she took a breath, and fixed him with a cool gaze that did little to hide the turmoil and sadness in her eyes.

"There are forces at work, people planning things, who can make things, that make you see death, and wish, wholeheartedly, to embrace it. They make fear. What I saw them create, what they made me watch, will haunt me until the day I die. If I go back to Tai and Yang, I will certainly bring those people hunting me right to them. As it is, the only thing keeping me alive is that I'm not a threat to them." She said, in that same monotone as before, and Qrow seemed to immediately sober up, pulling out his Scroll and pulling up a picture of Arthur Watts. He showed the picture to Raven, and her eyes widened almost immediately. Alexander took the Scroll back after a moment, handing it to Qrow.

"Thank you very much for your help Miss Branwen. Feel free to contact your brother at any time with any information you feel you can give us. We'll be in touch." Alexander said, standing with Qrow, who put a hand on Raven's shoulder with smile as he walked past. His hand lifted off her shoulder, and they were about to leave her alone, until Raven grabbed his arm, making him turn back, to see his sister, her eyes blazing fiercely.

"Tell Yang, even if she doesn't believe it, that I do love her, even if I'm bad about showing it." She said, and when Qrow nodded, she released his arm, and sat back down, as if nothing had happened. Alexander and Qrow left silently, catching a ride on a passing airship patrol back to Mistral, where they hopped on a late night bullhead trip back to Vale. The entire time, they were quiet, except for small comments, until the bullhead touched down on a Beacon landing pad as the sun was starting to rise. Both men hopped out, thanking the pilot before they trudged through the hallways of Beacon towards Ozpin's office, though halfway there, Qrow stopped, his hand on Alexander's shoulder.

"Go to bed, kid. I'll tell Ozpin about what happened. You just go back and get some rest today so you're good to go for class tomorrow." Qrow stared intensely at Alexander until he nodded, and turned to head the opposite direction.

"Thanks kid, seriously. Your help is really appreciated on this stuff." Qrow called after him. Alexander stopped momentarily before continuing on, though this time with a smile on his face. He didn't reach his room for another few minutes, where he found a team starting to get ready for the day, putting on gear for a team training session.

"Hey Alexander. Late night?" Amber asked, eyes full of concern at seeing her teammate dragging his feet even slightly. He never let his fatigue show. Alexander nodded, and she walked over, pushing him towards his bed while she pulled his cloak off, dropping it at the foot of his bed while he sat down on said bed.

"Alright. Sleep it off. Don't worry about training today, or anything else. Just rest, okay?" She said, smiling when he nodded and started unlacing his boots.

"We'll see you when you wake up." She said, ushering Quentin and Uranus out the door, turning the lights off behind them as Alexander slowly slipped off into slumber.

…

Five Years and Two Months before the Battle of Beacon

Alexander slowed his jog to a brisk walk as a repetitive beeping through his earbuds signified the end of the hour time limit he set for his run. Breathing heavily, he pulled out his Scroll as he kept walking, turning off the incessant beeping that was blasting against his eardrums, switching back over to the music he had been listening to.

He walked through the Beacon campus, stopping every so often to stretch, not wanting lactic acid to build up. There were limits to what aura could do, and, as Alexander had learned the hard way, fixing sore muscles was just outside those boundaries. So, he stretched deeply and frequently.

During one of these breaks, as he sat on the ground, stretching, he felt a shadow fall over him. He looked up to see Amber looming over him with a smile. He pulled his earbuds out in time to hear her say "Hey there, friend."

"Morning, Amber." Was his reply as he stood up, pulling on his shirt to keep the material, damp with his sweat, from clinging too much.

"Aw, you don't sound as excited to see me as I thought you would." She stuck her bottom lip out in a mock pout as she walked backwards in front of him.

"And I do apologize so sincerely, Amber, for not meeting your expectations." He mocked, making her laugh.

"So, in all seriousness, Alexander, we really do need to talk about something." Her expression immediately shifted as she stopped walking backwards, and fell in step next to Alexander. He grimaced before he asked the question he didn't think he wanted the answer to.

"Yeah, what is it we need to talk about?" She waited a long moment, figuring out how she wanted to word what she needed to say.

"Well, Ozpin wants us to go with him to a gala that's being held in Atlas. Except, he thinks that there's a very high chance that the gala will be attacked, and we're not exactly going as guests, but rather as security." She quickly said, and Alexander's expression soured.

"He wants to be security for the Schnee gala?" He asked, and although Amber said nothing, her silence told him all he needed to know.

"Right, well, tell him I'm not going to do it." He started walking away, but stopped when Amber called after him.

"Roland didn't want to do it either. That's your choice to make, but you have until the end of the month to change your mind, or both teams leave a member behind. You guys can play cards while we do our jobs." He waited until she was done talking, and then a moment longer, before walking away, barely speaking loud enough for her to hear.

"I'll think it over."

…

Five Years and One Month before the Battle of Beacon

"Qrow, you're a fool. You're going, and that's final." Goodwitch said, forcefully, a scowl on her face while Ozpin had a bemused smile on his face while he drank coffee. Qrow was grumbling, his arms crossed as he stood in front of Ozpin's desk, looking even angrier than than Goodwitch did.

"This is a crock. It's just an excuse for Jacques to bolster his public image. God knows he needs it." Qrow said, taking a sip from his flask. Ozpin's scroll buzzed and he picked it up, his smile growing as he read the message.

"Well, Qrow, you won't be the only person miserable at this event. Team AQUA and IPRL will be joining us, in a manner of speaking, despite several team member's complaints." Ozpin said, and Qrow looked at him questioningly, expecting to hear more, but was disappointed, as Ozpin simply went back to drinking coffee.

…

Five Years before the Battle of Beacon

"I hate doing security. It's so fucking boring." Uranus said, with a groan, over the earpieces that Alexander had gotten them from Dr. Polendina. They stood on top of the Atlas Museum of History, split up into partner pairs, while below them in the ballroom, guests started arriving to the party hosted there by Jacques Schnee, though noticeably absent from the party were his wife and eldest daughter.

"Yeah, well, some of us would rather kill the host of this charade rather than protect him, so quit your whining. What exactly are we supposed to be looking out for, anyway?" Roland said over the coms, the rumbling timbre of his voice clear even over radio. Amber looked expectantly at Alexander, who nodded, raising a hand to his earpiece.

"Anything that seems malicious. It's a Schnee party, so highest suspects are White Fang members. They underwent a leadership change a few months back, and radicalized pretty quickly. I wouldn't be too surprised if they decided to attack the gala." Alexander said, and could practically feel the confusion of the others over the coms.

"Why would they attack the party? Qrow Branwen, Professors Goodwitch and Ozpin, and General Ironwood are all there." Ianthe asked, her eyes searching the area surrounding the museum for anything that was out of place.

"Too many civilians for a fight. If the White Fang show up, the first thing they'll do is threaten the civilians, to keep the Hunters in line. It's what I'd do. They don't know we're here, or this attack probably wouldn't be happening." Alexander said, watching as Ozpin, Qrow, and Goodwitch entered the gala, Ozpin talking animatedly to a Mistralian weapons designer named Stark.

"Isn't the entire catering staff Faunus?" Roland asked, his voice tense. Alexander swallowed, thinking hard about it.

"I think so. And the asshole managed to not actually invite any Faunus as guests. God, what a fucker. Even when he's trying to further his public image he's a racist." Lily said, making Alexander smile.

"Yes, well, few people have accused Jacques Schnee of having a strong grasp on common sense." Amber replied, and Alexander heard Roland's scoff from across the rooftop. The clamor from the ballroom that had been barely audible through the glass of the skylight that was depressed into the roof cut off, giving way to one single voice that, while audible, was mercifully indecipherable, as Jacques Schnee began a speech.

"Got about fifteen people coming in through a side entrance." Pausanias said, and Alexander immediately turned away from the edge of the roof, walking over to the skylight as he spoke.

"Drop down behind them, take out what you can. Thin the numbers before they reach the ballroom. Anything past that, we will take care of. Everyone else, get to the skylight, we need to be able to see what's happening." Alexander said, and saw, from across the roof, Pausanias vault over the edge. The seven grouped up around the skylight, and Amber immediately took charge.

"Ianthe, Uranus, you're staying up here. Provide covering fire as we fall, take out anyone that gets too close to a civilian. Roland and I will get the civilians out of the way as quick as we can, I'll only need you to use your semblance on each group for a few seconds, okay?" She asked, and he nodded, the helm clinking against the armor around his neck. She raise her hand up to her ear a moment later.

"Pausanias, once this starts happening, take out anyone that looks sympathetic to the intruders regardless of who it is. We'll deal with that afterwards. Quentin, Alexander, Lily?" She asked, and they looked at her expectantly.

"Just do your thing." She said, making Lily smile a very wide, cocksure smile. The intruders swept into the ballroom after a moment, their numbers reduced to eleven, though they swiftly grew as the waitstaff starting pulling weapons and donning masks. Alexander put a hand to his ear.

"Pausanias, are they White Fang?" He asked, and a crackling moment later, the assassin responded.

"Can confirm. Definitely White Fang." He responded, as a leader with red hair, and wearing all black started advancing towards Jacques Schnee, masked like all the others with him. Amber started a countdown from three as she, Alexander, Quentin, Lily, and Roland all stepped onto the skylight, making it crack slightly. The leader made it maybe halfway to the head table before Uranus put a round through the skylight that winged off the marble floor in front of the leader, making the five drop from the sky, while a member of the wait staff took a purple arrow through the chest that dissipated moments after it struck.

Roland, Lily, Alexander and Quentin all landed in crouches, cracking the marble beneath them, while Amber landed in a flourish of wind behind them. Barely a moment passed where they gathered their bearings before Alexander tore towards the leader, drawing his attention, only to drop and slide between his legs while Lily, who had been right behind the Specialist, jumped up, and slammed both boots into the leader's sternum in a drop kick.

Meanwhile, Roland was projecting his aura onto as many civilians as he could while Amber shot them out of the ballroom with gusts of wind, literally throwing them out the front door. Qrow, Goodwitch, and Ironwood had joined them, giving them six actionable fighters for the time being against almost forty. Ozpin stood behind Jacques Schnee's chair, his hair whipping this way and that from an invisible wind, though if anyone had cared to look, they would have seen a thin green barrier around the three Schnees and Ozpin.

Alexander pushed himself up out of the slide, spinning as bullets went winging past him, biting into the marble floor as he stood up. His eyes lit up as he ran at the group that had came in with the leader, rather than hiding as wait staff. Rifles trained on him failed to land a shot, the bullets moving about as fast as a thrown rock to the Specialist. Fast, but avoidable. He reached the first one, bo staff spinning around him dangerously, slamming into the man's firing hand, the shoulder on the same arm, opposite knee, and finally temple, dropping him in barely a second, while another towards the back went down with a stab wound through each shoulder blade.

Behind him, Lily and the leader were fighting toe to toe, blade clashing against blade, though Lily was slowly gaining the upper hand as the leader started to panic, now starting to notice the drains on his aura, and how Lily wasn't running out of energy. Ironwood stood back with Goodwitch, covering Qrow as he tore through the wait staff while they tried to raise weapons against him, only to drop to the ground, bleeding. A sniper round and an arrow each tore through one of the uniformed White Fang members, their rifles clattering against the ground as another two succumbed to Alexander and Quentin while Pausanias turned his attention to the waitstaff.

One of the waiters, in a last ditch effort, attempted to rush the Schnees, only to be blasted back forcefully when he hit Ozpin's barrier, a smirk on the headmaster's face as the waiter's head was immediately slammed against the marble floor by Roland, the last of the civilians having been pushed out the doors a few moments prior. What few White Fang members still stood turned tail and ran after their leader out the back door. In barely one minute, they had managed to down the vast majority of the attackers.

A few moments later, the only ones left conscious in the room were teams AQUA, IPRL, Ozpin, Ironwood, Qrow, Goodwitch, and the Schnees, who, despite their collectively stoic facial features, were clearly scared, Weiss's hand shaking when she reached for her water evidence enough of that. Qrow took a long draught from his flask, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand as the Hunters walked over to Ozpin, who had dropped the strange barrier he had erected. The Headmaster put a comforting hand on Weiss's shoulder, which seemed to calm her, if only by a bit, as she and her family members jumped in surprise when Ianthe and Uranus dropped to the ground behind them before joining their teammates on the other side of the table.

"Specialist Wallace, it seems once again that you have come to my family's aid. I would like to thank you and your friends sincerely, for if not for your timely intervention, I can only imagine what may have happened to myself or my children." Jacques said, though it seemed slightly forced, his attempt at a grateful smile never quite reaching his eyes.

"Just doing our job." Alexander replied, his tone making it very clear that he didn't give a damn about Jacques. With a nod to Amber and Ianthe, the students left the ballroom, Qrow and Goodwitch in tow. Ozpin, after a short conversation with Ironwood, followed them out as well.

Outside the ballroom, those who had been forced out by Amber and Roland had gotten to their feet and were gathered not far from the doorway. The students and teachers were forced to gather close to Ozpin, who projected another barrier around him that gently pushed people out of the way when they touched it, letting them walk through the crowd with little effort. They walked out the front of the museum right as various Atlesian dropships and Bullheads started landing outside the museum, unloading multitudes of soldiers and robots to secure the museum, as well as round up the crowd of guests who didn't know what was going on.

Among the people who rushed past the group was one white haired young woman, who stopped when she recognized someone out of the corner of her eye. She turned to look, seeing a clump of people who all carried themselves with the same confidence of a veteran soldier, but noticed a familiar coat through the crowd. Their eyes locked for a moment, long enough for him to wink at her with a mysterious smirk on his face before they all boarded a Bullhead. Winter stood in shock and confusion for a moment before turning and continuing into the museum and, subsequently, the ballroom, where she saw Ironwood talking seriously with her father while her brother sat not far away.

Near them, but clearly distancing herself, sat Weiss, who had a glimmer in her eye that Winter had never seen before. One that suggested that Weiss had a secret. Winter walked over, and, surprising her sister, threw her arms around Weiss in a hug.

"I'm so glad that you're okay." Winter said, her voice slightly muffled by her sister's hair as Weiss returned the hug, albeit a bit hesitantly. Winter pushed back, holding her sister at arm's length for a moment, inspecting her quickly.

"Is there something wrong?" She asked, and Weiss's mouth twitched slightly as she suppressed a smile.

"I'm quite fine, Winter, but thank you for your concern." Weiss replied, the glimmer in her eye never diminishing. Winter cocked her head in confusion.

"Something you would like to tell me, then?" Winter asked, and Weiss seemed to think for a moment before nodding.

"Yes. When I am old enough, I will be attending Beacon." She said, a proud smile on her face, while Winter's instantly became more serious.

"You know you will have to train very hard to do that? Getting into to Beacon is not something people get offered over cookies and milk. You have to qualify." She said, and Weiss almost instantly matched her seriousness when she nodded.

"I will do what it takes." She replied, almost giving Winter pause with how certain she was, before Winter looked away thoughtfully.

"Okay. When you get an opportunity, tell Father. And Weiss…" Winter waited a beat to make sure she had her sister's attention, "What you saw tonight was an example of what Beacon's best and brightest are capable of. If you expect to match that, you have to do more than qualify for Beacon. You have to train and study to be better than the best. They didn't get as good as they are by accepting what life gave them and coasting by. They work incredibly hard every day to be that way and stay that way. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"

There was a long pause, the ambient noise of conversation between their father and Ironwood drifting across the ballroom as military personnel starting gathering up the conscious White Fang members and moving them somewhere secure. Weiss stared back at Winter unflinchingly, however, undeterred.

"I will do whatever it takes." Weiss said, her jaw set defiantly, and Winter nodded before bringing her sister in for another hug, making Weiss smile.

…

Four Years and Nine Months before the Battle of Beacon

Qrow sat on his couch, taking sips from his flask as he waited for Alexander, who, fortuitously, walked in the door a moment later.

"Oy, Qrow, you ought to get that lock fixed. I know you aren't here often…" Alexander said, trailing off when he saw the expression on Qrow's face.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Alexander asked, and Qrow put the flask away before placing his head in his hands.

"The girls, well, Yang, specifically, tried to go looking for Raven while Tai was locked in his room. Just, one of those days for him, you know, when it all just seems like too much?" Qrow said, but he didn't seem to be talking only about Tai. Alexander sat down next to him on the couch while he continued talking.

"Luckily, I was visiting, and I had been sleeping on the couch when they left. I followed after them as Yang walked through the forest, pulling Ruby behind her in a wagon. They got so far into the forest before I caught up…" He said, and tears started falling down his face.

"I barely got there in time." He said, and didn't speak for a long time while Alexander rubbed his back comfortingly.

"Is she going to keep looking?" Alexander asked, and Qrow nodded.

"She is very much my sister's daughter. She's not going to stop just because it got difficult." Qrow answered, with a sigh.

"So, do I send her what I have on Raven, or just leave it be, let her find everything on her own and on her own time?" Alexander asked, and Qrow shrugged his shoulders.

"Hell if I know. Giving her everything you have on Raven all at once would embolden her to keep searching, but she might become obsessed with it, and I don't want that." Qrow said, watching Alexander carefully, especially when his face lit up in realization.

"I know what I'll do. I've got a plan." Alexander said, and Qrow nodded his acknowledgement, choosing not to ask questions, deciding to trust Alexander's judgement.

"Alright, kid. You know what you're doing." Qrow said, standing up and going to grab some beers from the fridge, throwing one to Alexander, who caught it deftly and popped the cap off with a smile. Qrow sat down on the couch next to him and turned on the television, and they slowly tuned out the rest of the world, as they downed drink after the drink, the alcohol helping them forget, at least for the night, the responsibilities they had outside in the real world.

…

Two days later, Yang heard her Scroll beep, and picked it up to see a message from a blocked number. The message was entitled 'Raven Branwen File pt. 1 of 90'. Yang smiled as she sat down to sift through page after page of her documentation of her mother's early childhood.

…

A/N: Hey all, hope you liked the chapter. As always, reviews and private messages are welcome and encouraged, they help me get better as a writer. Thanks to Bulba Fett for continuing to beta this story.

Bulba Fett: Yis I iz Beta :3

A/N (Rewrite): Hey all, I uploaded this rewrite, since I decided I didn't like the direction I had written this story in. I hope you all like the chapter better this way than the original, I know I do. See you all next chapter. PEACE!


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: We do not own RWBY in any way. This is a fan written story, obviously, and all rights belong to Rooster Teeth Productions. Please support the official release.**

…

Chapter 6: The Last Mission

…

"You keep waiting for the dust to settle and then you realize this is it;

the dust is your life going on.

If happy comes along -

that weird unbearable delight that's actually happy -

I think you have to grab it while you can.

You take what you can get, 'cause it's here, and then... gone."

-Kitty Pryde

…

 **Four Years and Six Months before the Battle of Beacon**

A beep brought Ozpin's attention away from the monitors on his desk, to the Scroll in his pocket. He pulled it out as a message flashed on the screen from Amber, with a picture attached. "Team AQUA will be entering the Vytal tournament."

The message made him smile a bit, and he opened the attached image to see Amber's face in the foreground, a peace sign held up in front of her nose, her mouth wide and smiling, while in the background, Alexander was standing, arms wide, a smile on his face as well, as the tired and unconscious forms of two third year teams surrounded him and their other two teammates, whose backs were to the camera. Glynda heard his laughter from the elevator, several floors below him.

…

 **Four Years and Three Months before the Battle of Beacon**

In a sparring room in a basement of Atlas Academy, Alexander rolled to the side as Qrow's sword cleaved the air he had just occupied. "You know, I entered the Vytal festival." The Huntsman said, as Alexander backpedaled away from him and his sword.

"Oh yeah? How far did your team get?" The Specialist ran forward, jumping up, planting a foot on the sword slashing through the air, and pushing off. Qrow's sword was forced down into the floor as Alexander jumped over him, smacking him in between the shoulder blades as he landed, making the older man grunt.

"Tai and Raven ducked out after the full team stage. There was a rumour going around for a long time that it would be 'the Branwen twins' in the doubles stage, and Raven wanted no part in it. Tai always hated fighting competitively, said there was no point." Qrow pulled up his broadsword in time to stop a few shots from Alexander, the bullets pinging off the metal.

"So Summer was the one to run the gauntlet, right? She entered the solo tournament?" Alexander waited while Qrow rushed him, the tip of his sword digging a small gouge in the floor before he brought it up in a lightning quick slash, forcing Alexander to use his Semblance, the familiar burning at the back of his eyes accompanying it as he leaned far enough away to dodge before he spun, twirling his pistols so he slammed his escrima sticks into Qrow's ribs, receiving a sword pommel to the jaw for his troubles, whipping his head to the side.

"Yeah, well, she was the best of us, so, you know." Qrow said, as he backed away from Alexander running his hand down his face to wick away some sweat, the Specialist doing the same as he nodded understandingly.

"Are you going to enter the solo tournament?" The older man asked, and Alexander shrugged noncommittally.

"I'll probably end up in it. Don't know, though. We're waiting to see who enters, and who we'll be up against. The bracket gets announced next month, and we'll start not long after that, so we'll be doing a lot of homework." Alexander followed the Huntsman out of the gym, not really paying attention to where he was walking, and after walking down the hallway a bit, slammed right into a flash of white, coming around a corner, knocking them down, while Alexander barely wobbled.

He looked down, confused, while Qrow laughed uproariously next to him. "Winter? What the hell are you doing here?" He said, extending a hand down to the former Heiress, who took it, standing up and wiping nonexistent dirt off herself with a huff.

"Well, I wager I'm here for the same reason you and your friend here are. My team is entering the Vytal tournament, and I wanted to train." She responded haughtily as Qrow's laughter petered out to childish giggles as he discreetly pulled a flask out of his pocket.

"Speaking of which, care to introduce us?" She asked, and both Atlesians turned to see Qrow in mid drink, who stopped like a statue for a moment before slowly lowering his flask and putting it back in his pocket.

"That, is Qrow Branwen. He's a good friend, and a good man." Alexander said, reassuringly, but Winter seemed to ignore it, raising an eyebrow questioningly at the Huntsman.

"Well, forgive me if I don't instantly believe you." She said, coldly, and Qrow seemed to take immediate offense.

"Excuse me, Ice Queen, but I don't recall asking your opinion of me when you know nothing about me." He said, his red eyes flashing dangerously. Her lip curled up in distaste, about to respond before Alexander stepped between them, a hand on Qrow's chest pushing him back a bit.

"Let's all calm down, alright? And all agree not make any snap decisions about people we don't know yet?" He said, glaring pointedly at both of them. Qrow nodded, but turned and started walking down the hall away from them.

"Call me next time you want to talk, Alexander. You know how to find me." He called over his shoulder before he rounded a bend and disappeared from their sight. The specialist let out a resigned sigh before turning to Winter angrily, but stopped glaring when he got a good look at her, and noticed her rigid posture, the pain and fear behind her eyes.

"Ah, shit, sorry about that. He's, well, he's had a hard go of it, you know?" He asked and she nodded mechanically. Noticing how uncomfortable she seemed to be, he decided to quickly change the subject.

"How's Weiss doing? I haven't seen her since" He stopped when Winter cut him off.

"Since you helped thwart an attack that may have cost her her life. I don't believe I ever got a chance to thank you for that." She said, relaxing, clearly grateful for the change of subject.

"You don't need to thank me. All the planning and whatnot fell to Ozpin and the team leaders. I barely had to do anything." He said, and a smile tugged at the corners of her lips.

"Nonetheless, you were there, and helped save my sister. Thank you." She said, craning her head and leaning onto her toes a bit to kiss him on his cheek before she walked away, leaving Alexander stunned in the hallway, mouth hanging open slightly in shock, unable to do or process anything for a long few seconds before raising a hand to touch his cheek, a smile breaking across his face before he ran off down the hall after Winter.

…

 **Four Years and Two Months before the Battle of Beacon**

Team AQUA and IPRL waited patiently in a ring around a monitor in IPRL's room in Atlas as Professor Port read out the teams in each qualification bracket, names filling in on a graphic next to him as he did so. For a few minutes, nothing was announced that concerned the fourth years, but, after waiting patiently for a few minutes, they found out that they were each on opposite sides of the bracket, that AQUA would be facing Mistral and Vacuo teams until the official tournament, and IPRL would be facing a mix of Mistral and Atlas teams. Alexander stared at the monitor carefully, memorizing the names of every team both teams would be facing, before turning away and pulling out a tablet, typing away as he started walking across the hall to AQUA's room.

"What's that he's doing?" Lily asked, and the other six turned to watch the Specialist walk out. Amber smiled to Uranus and Quentin, who both smiled back.

"You'll see. I give it about, oooh, five minutes." She said, and Uranus managed to look affronted.

"Oh ye of little faith. That guy has been so deep in the databases, he probably already knows where to look. I give it three." The sniper turned to Quentin expectantly, who held out a hand that was quickly occupied by forty lien.

"As usual, whoever is closer gets the money. Four minutes dead will be an even split." Quentin said, with practiced boredom, further confusing the members of IPRL.

Three and a half minutes later, everybody's Scrolls pinged, causing them all to pull them out. Much to IPRL's surprise, they had been sent, by Alexander, three dossiers, one on each team they would be facing, as had AQUA, though they were far from surprised. Uranus was laughing as he collected his money from Quentin while Amber looked dejected, reading through her dossiers disappointedly.

…

 **Four Years and One Month before the Battle of Beacon**

"And with that convincing victory, team AQUA has completed the qualifying rounds quite convincingly, and will be moving on to the tournament!" Port announced. "To those just joining us, welcome to the Vytal tournament in the wonderful province of Atlas!"

Port's voice slowly got softer and softer as AQUA stepped off the stage and walked away from the qualifying area that, by the next day, would be turned into a festival of fantastic proportions. Booths would sell food, clothing, weaponry, host games, and everything in between. As they walked, Uranus, Amber, and Quentin chatted amicably about seemingly nothing, bouncing from topic to topic randomly, leaving Alexander to his thoughts.

He didn't even notice that he had split from his team until he found himself standing in the visitors wing of Atlas Academy's locker room, having completely zoned out. He hadn't noticed that he had changed into workout his workout clothes, a loose fitting t shirt and shorts. He sighed, annoyed at himself as he walked into the weight room attached to the locker room, a confused look on his face when he saw that nobody was in the weight room, an odd occurrence, especially given the amount of foreign students that were staying at Atlas Academy for the festival. Alexander shrugged, walking over to the treadmill, turning on a monitor as he passed it, Professor Port's voice once more resonating in his ear drums as he narrated another qualifying fight.

Alexander was just finishing up his lifts an hour later when the door to the weight room finally opened, and someone stepped in. Alexander payed them no mind, preferring to rack his weights silently, until he heard them come up behind him. A shadow loomed on him for a moment before he turned around, seeing Roland's smiling face looking down at him, making Alexander smile in response.

"Saw you won your fight." Roland rumbled, his smile stretching even wider.

"You're moving on as well, aren't you?" Alexander asked of the bear faunus, who nodded happily as he walked over to the squat rack, and started loading the bar with weights.

"Indeed we are, my friend. It's a shame, really, I had hoped that our teams would meet before the individual stage." The paladin, at least in the mirror, truly looked saddened, making Alexander quirk an eyebrow.

"Are you forgetting that we have yet to drop a match against you?" Alexander asked, and the Roland smiled again as he finished his set, racking the bar, and turning to look at Alexander, his arms crossed and resting on the bar.

"It is much more interesting to watch you fight in person, rather than watch you fight another." Alexander laughed, raising his fists mockingly.

"Anytime you want, big guy. I'm always ready, but let's not tell Lily. She might get jealous." The smile on his face showed off his teeth, and the paladin laughed as well.

"Fair enough. Nonetheless, it is interesting to see you fight, though I believe that none here at Beacon have truly seen you fight as hard as you can." Alexander cocked his head questioningly, and Roland paused to gather his thoughts.

"I have yet to see you truly use your semblance, or fight someone with the intention to kill. It is admirable, to be sure, to see how far you can go on your own ability without using something that could be construed as a crutch, but I believe that, not only are you hindering yourself unnecessarily, you are also depriving all of those watching of a truly incredible fight. Give your opponents a standard to meet, and you may just be surprised by their skill and tenacity." Roland finished with a kind smile as Alexander nodded thoughtfully, before smiling widely.

"I have an idea." The Specialist said, with a conspiratorial wink at Roland before he walked out of the weight room.

"Wait! I need someone to spot me!" Roland yelled, grumbling to himself when nobody responded, pulling out his Scroll from his pocket.

…

It was the last match of the day, though the sun had set some time ago. The moon glowed peacefully over Amity Colosseum as Alexander waited patiently, hands clasped behind his back, a smile on his face as the platforms raised up their respective biomes around him, but he paid them no mind. He had no intention of leaving the middle of the arena, the white of the floor around him matching the crisp white of his Atlesian uniform, the opposing all male team from Atlas watching him carefully. If he remembered correctly, their team name was SHDW (Shadow). Not that it mattered all that much.

The biomes locked in place, and Alexander slowly started walking forward, his steps measured and his gaze carefully placed straight ahead of him, staring between two members of SHDW, while the other three of AQUA slowly backed away, stepping into the biome behind him.

"Truly startling confidence from Alexander Wallace!" The newly instated Professor Oobleck cried over the PA, Port echoing his sentiment of confusion and astonishment. Alexander turned his head, finding Roland in the crowd, locking eyes with the paladin, who was grinning ear to ear, his animal ears twitching from anticipation.

"We refuse to fight you at such a disadvantage, Specialist Wallace!" The leader of Shade shouted, cries of assent coming from his teammates while Alexander simply turned to smile bemusedly at them.

"Whoever said you got a choice in the matter?" He said, and fire erupted around them, locking them in a ring courtesy of Amber.

"I call this the ring of friendship!" Alexander yelled over the crackling of the flames and the roar of the crowd, his arms spread wide, his smile even wider.

"How about we get to know each other better?!" He yelled at SHDW's leader, who pulled a rod off of his back that elongated and snapped into a trident while a disk on his forearm spat out a weighted metal netting that he caught deftly in his left hand in a practiced motion. He dropped into a stance, net held out front, trident poking over his head while his companions encircled Alexander.

The one directly behind Alexander shook his arms and, out of sleeves, fell metal scales that quickly collected on his hands in thick gauntlets, but grew from his hands to cover his arms and the top half of his torso in a scaled metal armor. There was a thick bar that stuck out about half an inch from his knuckles and vibrated with explosive energy. His legs spread out slightly, and brought his fists up to his chest, watching Alexander carefully.

The man to Alexander's right pressed a hand to the back of his neck and, much like his teammate, metal scales starting crawling across and up his neck. He took off the jacket and gloves he wore, revealing that he had fully prosthetic arms, and that his entire torso was now covered by the scale armor. The fingers of his prosthetics elongated and sharpened into talons while he dropped low, looking ready to pounce.

To Alexander's left, a pair of axes were drawn from the man's belt as he too shed his jacket, leaving his upper half bare but for a pair of vambraces to protect his forearm that looked deceptively weak. He brandished his axes with a flourish, turning his shoulder to the Specialist, extending one axe towards Alexander while keeping the other behind him, but still raised. Alexander turned slowly to assess everyone around him with a mocking smile on his face.

"Well, gentlemen, why keep the crowd waiting?!" He yelled, the brightness of the flame overshadowing him and hiding when his eyes lit up, and, in a flash, had drawn a pistol, and fired two rounds at their leader's chest. The first clipped his shoulder as he leaned to dodge, giving his spin just enough momentum to dodge the second round. Alexander leaned back to dodge the wild swipes of the gladiator with the claws, stepping away with each swipe.

Alexander heard an axe slicing through the air behind him, and spun, grabbing the outstretched arm, and spun again, throwing the axe-wielder into the clawed man, throwing them both away from him momentarily. He threw himself to the side as a shadow descended upon him, getting out of the way of the weighted net.

He ran forward, over the net, towards the leader, whose trident was extended towards him. Alexander gave a stutter step, and the leader stabbed out with his trident like lightning, but Alexander managed to duck to the side, and grab the shaft of the trident, giving it a hard pull, pulling the leader off balance, making him stumble and lose his grip on the trident that Alexander spun with, planting the butt end into the stomach of the boxer, knocking him back a step as Alexander spun again, slamming the shaft into the stomach of the leader, knocking him off his feet. Alexander raised the trident, and stabbed down, but the leader managed to reach up and catch the trident on the outside prongs.

Alexander was thrown off his feet by the boxer, who had planted a punch in Alexander's ribs, tossing him off his leader, who the boxer immediately helped up off the ground. Alexander quickly shot back to his feet, escrima sticks out, his eyes glowing brighter than the fire as he poured his aura into his semblance, and his toes started to tingle.

An axe descended upon Alexander once more, but he caught it on his escrima stick and threw it off to the side. The second followed a breath later, moving like molasses to the Specialist, and Alexander knocked that one off course too, before smacking the axe wielder several times around the ribs, before spinning him and pushing him, once more, hard into the clawed man, knocking them both down.

While they untangled, the other two started circling Alexander, the trident occasionally coming out to poke at his defenses, but Alexander would bat it dismissively away. Finally, the boxer charged him, planting his feet and swinging hard at Alexander's face. He dodged them for a few seconds, watching the pattern, before reaching out and smacking one fist hard in the direction it was already travelling, pulling the boxer off balance.

Alexander kicked out, slamming a heel into the boxer's knee, forcing him further off balance before smacking him across the ribs with one escrima stick while the other slammed into his cheek, dropping him to the floor at Alexander's feet. An axe, thrown, slammed into Alexander's aura, rebounding straight up into the air, forcing the Specialist back a step. As the axe fell, Alexander stepped back forward, holstering one escrima stick, and grabbing the axe.

He pulled back and threw it as hard as he could at the clawed gladiator, who managed to dodge it slightly, so that it hit his shoulder instead of his chest, sending the axe skipping off his armor, and out of the circle of fire. A blast of energy shot past Alexander's face, ignoring his aura, and singing some of the stubble on his chin off as he stepped back to avoid it. Alexander looked to his left to see the leader, trident outstretched, energy gathering again on the end of the middle prong before he thrust again, forcing Alexander to step out of the way again, giving the boxer enough room to get back to his feet.

Alexander found himself slowly backed up by the boxer and energy blasts until he was barely a meter from the flames, the heat washing over him suffocatingly. Alexander smiled, recognizing the strategy behind the positioning quickly, ducking low under a right hook from the boxer before exploding forward, his shoulder plowing into the other man's gut, picking him up, and carrying him as he ran for another meter or so, before he threw the boxer forward, and, in one smooth motion, spun his escrima sticks so he was holding pistols once again, and squeezing off several shots from each, one pistol aimed at the boxer's stomach, the other aimed at the leader's chest.

The leader quickly dropped into the red, not quite fast enough to dodge more than the last shot, and slammed his hand into the floor in frustration. The boxer tried to get up, despite one shot having gone through his aura and buried itself in the metal armor and forearm of his right arm when he brought it up in a futile attempt to block the shots, and received a boot to the temple for his efforts . Alexander's eyes blazed bright blue once again as he jumped back to avoid the claws descending upon him.

He spun his pistols and linked his escrima sticks into a bo staff, twirling it around himself as he took a few steps toward the clawed gladiator, who slowly backed away, matching Alexander step for step. A faint whistling drew his attention off to the side as he smacked the axe away from him before stepping back to dodge another slash of the claws. The axe wielder and the clawed man made a good pair, forcing Alexander to put away his bo staff as a sharp pain in his eyes signaled the nearing of his limit on his semblance.

Alexander waited for the axe to cut through the air toward him again, grabbing it and the man holding it, hammering a punch into the man's throat, shocking him enough that Alexander ripped the axe out of his hands, and, listening carefully for his teammate, spun quickly, slamming the butt end of the axe into the other gladiator's temple, sending him stumbling away. The axe wielder slowly tried to stand, but Alexander dismissively threw his axe down at his back, breaking his aura, and causing him to collapse to the floor.

The clawed man charged Alexander, fury hotter than the flames around them burning in his eyes, though they were met with only cold indifference and determination. Alexander drew his bo staff, separating it into escrima sticks, spinning off a particularly ambitious lunge, sweeping the man's legs out from beneath him, before slamming his escrima sticks into the man's back, an explosive electrical discharge heralding the use of dust, slamming the gladiator into the floor hard enough to both crack the floor and shatter the man's aura.

Alexander straightened up, breathing hard as he let deactivated his semblance, grimacing and shutting his eyes at the pain in his eyes, as well as the stabbing feeling that permeated his fingers and toes that came after he overclocked his semblance to it's 'safe' limits or beyond. He took a few calming deep breaths as the fire around him and his opponents fell finally tuning back into a roaring crowd that he had ignored since the start of the fight.

As Port and Oobleck called out his victory, the fire fell, and he helped the members of SHDW to their feet, all of whom stared at him with a mixture of fear and respect, but for the leader, who seemed oddly content. He reached out to shake Alexander's hand after he found his footing, and pulled the Specialist in so he could say something.

"I'm pissed we lost, but that was one crazy way to lose. Thanks for giving me one hell of a story." He said with a smile and a laugh, before he turned and followed his team out of the stadium, patting them on their backs reassuringly. Alexander's face spread in a wide smile as he walked off with his own team, to be met in the tunnel by Ozpin, who had a regretful smile on his face.

"That was quite the bout." He said, eyes fixed on Alexander, who smiled a bit sheepishly.

"Thank you, sir, though I suspect you didn't travel all the way to Atlas just to tell me that." Alexander stood a bit uncomfortably under the headmaster's gaze.

"Well, I suppose, rip off the bandage." Ozpin said to himself more than anything else, though AQUA heard him quite clearly.

"I'm sorry, sir?" Uranus asked, confusion written on his face.

"I'm afraid you won't be getting a chance for a repeat performance." Ozpin said, and the students stared at him in shock and confusion.

"An increase in Grimm activity has left Hunters all over Remnant scrambling to aide the nearest outskirt village that is under threat, should they be capable. Unfortunately, there is one request that needs filled that nobody accepted for a few reasons. One being the location, the other being the numbers requested." Ozpin said, his eyes flickering to each member of AQUA's in turn, watching them carefully. Amber was the first to process what he had just said, and asked the question burning a hole on their tongues.

"The number problem was eight, obviously, that's why we and IPRL are both being sent. Why doesn't anyone want to go to the mission location?" Ozpin sighed heavily, his mouth opening, but he was cut off as IPRL entered the tunnel from the other direction.

"Nobody wants to go because the request came from the chieftain of Menagerie." Roland said, his normally calm and kind rumble laced with frustration. Ozpin nodded his thanks to the paladin, who nodded tensely back to the headmaster.

"I figured, between Roland's familiarity with Menagerie, and Alexander's experience with the chieftain, that yours would be the best teams to send. It also helps that you are the top two teams in fourth year. If all goes well, when you return you will have graduated from Beacon Academy. So, do you all accept your mission?" Ozpin turned so that he could address all eight students at once. All eight, one by one, nodded or voiced their acceptance to the headmaster.

"Excellent. A bullhead will take you from the roof of Atlas Academy to the docks. From there, you will take a quick, and hopefully uneventful boat ride to Menagerie. Find the chieftain's house, and he can fill you in on the details of the mission." Ozpin turned and left, his cane and the hard soles of his shoes making audible tapping noises on the floor of the tunnel that echoed all along it. Roland looked questioningly at Alexander.

"How do you know chieftain Belladonna?" He asked, and Alexander's face soured momentarily before clearing.

"I helped evacuate him from the rally in Atlas that went tits up." He said, smiling grimly at the bear Faunus, whose expression had cleared of confusion.

…

A few days and, as expected, an uneventful boat ride later, Alexander was the last to walk down a gangplank to step onto a dock in Menagerie's harbor, not long before dusk, but after a dinner at sea, a duffle bag over his shoulder filled with a multitude of things that could potentially be useful on the mission, as well as the obvious things like clothes. Following the others, all of whom held their own duffles, led by Roland, whose armor was compacted into a metal backpack, through the harbor and market, they soon found themselves on the top of a hill, looking down on a massive stretch of land that was densely populated with houses and shops that were criss crossed with dirt roads, a thick main road stretching through the town to end at the steps of a huge house.

"That is the chieftain's house." Roland said, pointing at the mansion. Uranus punched him the shoulder, laughing.

"Yeah, no shit, man. Let's get going, then." He said, and both teams made their way to the mansion, with Roland and Alexander out front, turning heads as they walked, some staring at the large bear faunus in recognition and confusion, others focused on the humans he walked with, though some seemed to recognize Alexander as well.

By the time they reached the mansion, the sun was halfway below the horizon. Roland reached up tentatively to grasp the knocker on the door, and smacked it against the door several times, the banging resonating throughout the comparatively quiet night air. Barely a minute later, the door slowly opened, and Kali Belladonna stuck her head out, looking over the group assembled outside, her eyes staying on Alexander and Roland the longest. She pulled her head in, and the door closed a bit, though they could still hear her through the crack.

"Honey! Were we expecting company?!" There was a pause where they heard something unintelligible.

"Well that Roland boy and the Specialist from the rally in Atlas are here!" She yelled in response, and after a few moments of more unintelligible noise, she stuck her head back out, with a finger held up.

"Give us just a minute." She said, and the door closed fully with a thud. AQUA and IPRL all turned to each other, sharing similar looks of confusion while they waited. After another minute or so of waiting patiently, the door opened again, and Kali Belladonna ushered them into a foyer that looked to be about the size of their rooms at Beacon, before guiding them into a similarly sized room with a low table surrounded by a dozen cushions. On top of the table sat several clay tea pots and a dozen clay mugs.

"Come in, come in. There's tea on the table, feel free to help yourselves." She said, waiting for everyone to sit down before sitting down as well, each team taking up one side of the table, while Kali sat across the table from IPRL.

"Roland, how have you been? You haven't been back to Menagerie in years." She asked, and Roland smiled tensely, clearly uncomfortable.

"I have been quite well, ma'am, thank you for asking." He responded, his back straightening when footsteps started coming down the hall. Ghira Belladonna walked in, and sat down across from AQUA with a sigh, his head lowered slightly, his eyes fixed on his hands, which were clenched together on the top of the table. He raised his head slowly, his intense gaze locking on Alexander momentarily before flicking to Amber.

"I'm very sorry that I have to start our professional relationship off in such a way, but, unfortunately, I was not entirely transparent with you or Professor Ozpin when I requested the mission." Amber's eyes narrowed dangerously, and everyone's hands started to drift toward weapons. In this brief pause, Alexander's eyes had darted around the room, watching the shadows carefully, looking everywhere for any hint of potentially hostile movement.

"You see, I actually have two missions for you, though it is up to you to decide who undertakes which mission. The first is, of course, Grimm extermination. I did not lie about Menagerie being under threat of a Grimm attack." Ghira paused, looking over at Kali, who looked incredibly concerned, and they seemed to have a mental conversation for a few seconds before Ghira nodded and pursed his lips, figuring out what he wanted to say.

"And the second mission?" Ianthe prompted, and Gaara's gaze snapped to her before he looked over, once again, to Alexander, though this time the Specialist could clearly see the sadness in the Chieftain's eyes.

"My daughter, Blake, is missing. I need to know where she went, and why she left, and, above all, if it is possible to bring her back." Ghira spoke with such conviction and anger that Alexander was almost surprised. Almost. After a moment, Amber spoke, her voice dripping with sadness.

"Team AQUA accepts the missions set before us on the condition that IPRL does as well." She spoke questioningly, and she looked at Ianthe with a quirked eyebrow.

"Team IPRL also accepts the missions set before us. Chieftain, we will meet with you tomorrow about the details of each mission once we have discussed who exactly will be doing each mission." Ianthe said, and the teams were led into a series of guest bedrooms by Kali, who bid them goodnight before leaving them with grateful smile. Alexander and the others all congregated in an empty guest bedroom where Amber had already tacked two large maps of Menagerie to one of the walls. On another, hung two large sheets of paper, each detailing the expected objectives each mission would require, as well as the potential skills needed to complete the objectives and the mission by extension.

"Who leads each mission?" Was the first question asked, by Quentin, who was looking at the team leaders expectantly. Ianthe looked at Amber carefully before turning to address Quentin.

"Amber and I have decided that she and Alexander should lead. Amber is a better field leader than I am, especially against the Grimm, and from what she's told me, this will hardly be the first time Alexander would be doing a search mission. Apparently, among other things, Alexander was the one who located the thief Roman Torchwick for the Vale Police." Ianthe looked a bit disbelieving, though Amber smiled supportively to the Specialist, who looked a bit uneasy.

"Alexander, you'll take Pausanias and Roland. The rest of us will fight the Grimm." Amber said, and Alexander nodded his acceptance, though Roland looked a bit miffed that he wasn't going to be allowed to fight the Grimm.

"Roland, Pausanias all we'll be doing tomorrow is canvassing the market, ask people the last time they saw Blake, where they saw her, things like that, but take your time building up to that, just talk to them like you would normally talk to someone." Alexander said, and with that, left the room to turn in for the night.

…

"Roland, you'll probably have a much easier time of it than Pausanias, but don't go person to person too quickly. Also, actually buy things. Not at every stall, not every vendor, but don't walk around empty handed. Look like you genuinely want to be in the market for the market, not for the questions you're asking. Got it?" Alexander said, and Pausanias and Roland both nodded before Pausanias left. Alexander waited about thirty minutes before he too left, following the long dirt road up to the market from the mansion. Ghira hadn't been able to tell him much anything of help, only that over the past year, Blake had gotten quieter, spent more and more time away from the mansion. The chieftain had assumed that it was just Blake coming to terms with such a big change in their life, going from changing towns every week, holding rallies everyday, to living in a mansion and holding afternoon tea. But then she just disappeared for seemingly no reason a few months ago. Everything about it seemed suspicious to Alexander. And for some reason, his mind kept connecting Blake to the White Fang every time he thought about her disappearance.

The market, as he expected, did not seem initially receptive to his or Pausanias's presence. Alexander spent probably an hour in the market before a vendor addressed him, another hour until a vendor engaged in small talk with him, though it wasn't long until the vendors seemed to realize that he meant no harm, and was genuinely interested in both them and their wares.

Alexander stopped outside a fruit stand, picking up a fruit he had never seen before, easily several times the size of a grapefruit. The vendor walked over, a kind old man, smiling at the confusion on the Specialist's face.

"Well, boy, you have a hell of an eye. That is one of the best fruits I sell. It's called a pomelo." A thin tail behind him twitched when Alexander looked at him, even more confused than before, causing the vendor to laugh.

"Think grapefruit, but milder, and way more of everything. The skin is thicker, the rind is thicker, there's more actual flesh inside to eat. One of those is a nice addition to any meal where you're expecting to serve several people." The vendor clarified for the Atlesian, who looked at the fruit in his hands with a newfound interest.

"Well, with that ringing endorsement, how could I not buy one?" Alexander asked, jokingly, and the vendor laughed good naturedly, pulling out a bag for the pomelo while Alexander handed him some lien. Once he held the fruit once again, Alexander looked around the stall, eyes lighting on several different fruits before looking back up at the vendor.

"Well, Mister…" Alexander trailed off, looking at the vendor expectantly.

"Simia, but call me Veteris. Most everyone does." He said, with a kind smile that Alexander returned.

"Pleasure, to meet you, I'm Alexander. Alright then, Veteris, what can you tell me about the rest of these?" He asked, sparking a conversation about fruit that continued for half an hour where Veteris compared and contrasted different fruits based off taste, texture, and difficulty to consume, until Veteris reached the limit of his knowledge.

"Well, I think that's about all I can tell you without diving into territories that I'm not too knowledgable on, you know?" Alexander nodded and voiced his gratitude, buying another fruit he had heard Veteris talking about, called a guava, and started turning walking away, before Veteris called his name, and he turned back.

"What brings an Atlesian to Menagerie? I know you didn't come for the fruit, as interested in it as you seemed to be." Veteris asked, and Alexander smiled internally.

"Well, truth be told, sir, I'm here on something of a mission. A favor if you would. See, a few years back, Chieftain Belladonna did a favor for a friend of mine, and I'm here to repay that favor." Alexander kept his voice hushed, creating a false sense of secrecy. Veteris looked at him with wide eyes.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" He asked, and Alexander looked around, exuding false nerves before he leaned in to speak to Veteris.

"Possibly. Blake Belladonna recently went missing, and though Chieftain Belladonna is sure that she is fine, he wants me to find her and check up on her, and that means asking around the market if people know where she is, or where she might have gone. Problem is, most of the vendors don't trust me because I'm not a faunus." Alexander said, watching Veteris' eyes widen in surprise, understanding, and eagerness.

"I'll ask them for you!" He spoke a bit louder than necessary, and Alexander recoiled away. Alexander did a good performance of looking conflicted, before nodding reluctantly.

"Okay, fine. But you can't let them on what this is about, just ask them the last time they saw Blake, who she was with, and where they were. Nothing else." Alexander said, and Veteris nodded his head.

"Alright. I'll be back later, I have some other leads to chase down in the meantime, but I'll find you around late afternoon." Veteris nodded again, before scurrying off to talk to another vendor. Alexander sighed before walking back toward the mansion, munching on the guava with a smile on his face while he hummed a song to himself quietly. When he got back to the mansion, he gave the pomelo to Kali, who thanked him before walking off with it as he headed back to his room, where his tablet was laying on his bed.

Unfortunately, Menagerie was criminally lacking in security cameras, and nothing had been publically broadcasted from Menagerie since Sienna Khan took over the White Fang. It wasn't for a few hours that Alexander realized the rabbit hole he had dove down, reading report after report about White Fang activity, both confirmed and speculated. He had just read the report about the attack on the Schnee gala when his Scroll started buzzing in his pocket.

He pulled it out and read the screen, a smile forming on his face as he answered the call, ice blue eyes staring back at his own electric blue, his smile widening even further.

"Alexander, when I had heard you had dropped out of the tournament, I must admit that I was almost worried. When you didn't answer mine or Qrow's calls for several days, he was quite concerned." She said, the small smile tugging at her lips evidence enough of her concern, and relief that he was fine.

"Well, Winter, tell _Qrow_ I appreciate his concern, but as you can see, I'm quite alright. I got asked to go on a mission, so my team and I are in Menagerie for that purpose." He said, and Winter's brows furrowed slightly in worry.

"Menagerie…" Winter trailed off, before taking a deep breath.

"Just be careful, alright?" She said, and Alexander nodded.

"Of course. How is the tournament going?" Winter seemed a bit reluctant to change the subject, but after a moment of hesitation, she answered.

"Singles tournament starts next week. The doubles stage only ended today." A knock pulled Alexander's attention away from his Scroll, and he looked up to see Amber in the doorway. He turned back to the Scroll, mouth open to speak, but he closed it when Winter spoke first.

"You have to go. I get it. I'll talk to you soon?" She spoke hopefully, and Alexander nodded.

"Absolutely. I'll call you when I can. Win that tournament for me in the meantime." He answered with a smile, and Winter laughed as she hung up, her laughter ringing in his ears as he stared at the phone for a few seconds before he looked to Amber with a sigh.

"What's up?" He asked, and Amber didn't respond for a few seconds, just stared at him, eyes searching his face for something. He repeated the question and Amber blinked, her eyes refocusing on his eyes.

"Um, Kali is making lunch for those of us fighting the Grimm. She wanted me to invite you if you were still here, and if you wanted to join us." She seemed uncertain, and shifted from foot to foot.

"Well, uh, yeah, sure. I'll join you guys. Just give me a minute." He said, turning back to his tablet and turning it off. By the time he looked back to the door, Amber was gone, and Alexander was walking down an empty hall to the dining room. Lunch was light and included the pomelo Alexander had gotten from the market earlier. The chatter between the other five Hunters at the table was constant, and if he were more paranoid, Alexander would have thought that they purposefully excluded him, though more accurately, he just made no effort to join the conversation, his thoughts on the White Fang, trying to figure out why he thought about them whenever he thought of Blake.

A few hours of digging later, around mid afternoon, Alexander stumbled upon the first file that made him think of Blake. A report from a beat cop, a few months back, patrolling the streets in Vale city when he came upon a dark haired teenage faunus girl standing on the corner of a street. He asked her what she was doing there that late at night, but she bolted, running right past an alleyway where, moments later, a number of other faunus sprinted out of, one of which had the White Fang logo on the back of their shirt. The cop tried to chase after them, but stopped when he heard whimpering from the alley. When he went in, he found a pair of Schnee Dust Company executives, tied up and beaten within an inch of their lives.

Alexander leaned back away from his desk with a sigh, running his hands through his hair. Several other files linked someone matching Blake's description to a number of dust thefts in Vale, all of which had only been defended by Atlesian knight variants. She hadn't been seen at something as brutal as the beatings since it happened. Alexander paced for a few seconds, before he walked out of the mansion in a bit of a rush. Alexander zoned out until he reached the market, and met with Veteris, who said that nobody had seen hide nor hair of Blake in months.

Beyond that, Veteris didn't have much of use to say, and Alexander thanked him for his help, bought a few guavas, and walked away, back towards the mansion. On the way, he met up with Roland, who said that he had something he needed to hear, but that it should wait until they got back to the mansion.

It didn't take them long to get back, where they met Pausanias, who was waiting in Alexander's room for the Specialist. Alexander set the bags of guavas down on the desk in his room, and pulled out a guava that he bit into.

"So, you guys have anything?" He asked, after swallowing a mouthful of guava, before biting off another.

"Yeah. Far as I was able to gather, Blake is most certainly not on Menagerie. Nobody has seen her in months, but before she disappeared, people said that she was hanging around a few shady characters, a guy and a girl. I couldn't get a description on the guy, but the girl was Blake's age, really thin, long brown hair in a ponytail, she has dark skin spots on her cheeks and her joints. Apparently she's a chameleon Faunus." Pausanias said, taking a guava that Alexander offered to him with an outstretched hand.

"I can help with the other one. I found out pretty much the same thing, but I got a description on the guy she left with. I grew up with him here on the island. Name's Adam Taurus. He's got red hair." Roland started to give a description, but Alexander stopped him, turning to pick up his tablet, his guava held in his mouth as he typed something in, before turning and showing Roland a picture on his tablet, and saying something that was unintelligible through the guava in his mouth, but Roland seemed to understand him somehow, and the bear faunus nodded.

"And yes, he is the one who led the attack on the Schnee gala. If this is all connected, and you're describing who I think you are, Pausanias, Blake joined up with some White Fang radicals." Roland said, and Alexander nodded, putting his tablet down and pulling the guava out of his mouth.

"She's also in Vale." He said, and Roland's head snapped to him almost immediately.

"What?" Written all across his face was disbelief and confusion.

"Yep. White Fang actions in Vale have increased, and several police and witness reports place her in Vale, helping with robberies, mostly." Alexander said, and Roland shut his eyes tightly, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Want a guava, big guy? To calm the nerves?" Alexander joked, holding a fruit out to the paladin, who took it and started eating it, displeasure on his face.

"What's our move?" Pausanias asked Alexander, wiping some guava juice from the corner of his mouth.

"We head to Vale on the next boat out. Should be two days from now. Get to Vale within the week, start hunting for Blake. If we can, snatch Adam Taurus, but this is a mission to find Blake, so we find and talk to her before we go around tying up HVTs." Alexander said, and the other two nodded. Alexander motioned for them to leave, and yelled after them as they left.

"I'll talk to Ghira about it after dinner. You guys just go hang out for now."

After dinner, Alexander pulled Ghira to the side to talk to him, though he found a bit of difficulty actually finding what to say to the father for a minute or so.

"So, uh, rip the bandaid off, I suppose." Alexander muttered to himself, while Ghira stood, confused.

"Um, Chieftain Belladonna, your daughter is not on Menagerie at all. Best we can tell, she saw the new White Fang in the same light as the White Fang you yourself led for some years, and she left to join them." Ghira's face fell almost instantly.

"So do you not know where she is?" His voice shook slightly, and suddenly Alexander wasn't talking to Ghira Belladonna, Chieftain of Menagerie, former leader of the White Fang, and Menagerie native, but was instead talking to Ghira, loving and concerned father, whose daughter had nearly broken his heart by running away.

"We have an idea, but I don't think you'll like it." Alexander said, and hope shone in Ghira's eyes.

"Well then, what is it?" He spoke almost frantically.

"We think she is in Vale, working on ops for the White Fang. From what we can tell, she spent a lot of time around one Adam Taurus and a chameleon faunus who we couldn't get an ID on, and they were her primary connection to the White Fang. We believe they brought her into the fold." Alexander spoke slowly, letting everything he said sink in. Ghira looked shocked, and more than a little bit scared.

"That Taurus boy, he's the one that led the attack on the Schnee gala, correct?" He asked, and Alexander did and said nothing for a few seconds before nodding reluctantly.

"How fast can you get to Vale?" Ghira looked at Alexander expectantly.

"Within the week. The next boat to Vale docks in two days and departs that same day. We'll take it, and contact you as soon as we have any solid information on Blake." Alexander responded almost immediately, every word almost seeming rushed. Ghira smiled gratefully at him.

"Thank you. Keep me updated as much as possible though, any information, even conjecture, would be some weight off my chest." Ghira extended a hand to him that Alexander shook, turning and walking down the hall shortly after, stopping when he reached Pausanias and Roland.

"Vale's a go. We leave two days from now, and we hit the ground running." Alexander said, and the other two men nodded, stepping into their rooms to sleep for the night, Alexander copying them after a moment.

…

A week later, Alexander and Pausanias watched from behind a crate in an alley while Roland talked to two other faunus men, one with round ears not unlike Roland's but brown, and another with a large bushy fox tail, but both had a White Fang logo tattooed on their right shoulder. After almost an hour of talking, Roland finished talking to the men, shaking both of their hands, and smiling as he walked away from them, though the smile dropped the second he turned away from them.

"What'd you get?" Alexander asked, stepping out from the crate, straightening up, as Pausanias copied him. Roland smiled in response, pulling his Scroll from his pocket.

"Adam Taurus is definitely in Vale, the chameleon faunus, who is apparently named Ilia, is gone, nobody's seen her in forever. However, a few weeks ago, Adam picked up a shadow. A girl, young teenager, started going on almost every mission with him. Turns out, she's pretty good, stealth wise, for someone her age. She's how they've gotten access to every dust shipment and supply that they've hit. The other ops they've run, capturing, beating, and killing Schnee execs, she doesn't do any of them." Roland said, and Alexander hummed thoughtfully.

"Alright. So, clearly she knows that some of what they're doing is morally reprehensible, no matter how you spin it. Why does she stay?" Alexander said quietly, more to himself than anything else. Roland and Pausanias both heard him, however, and Roland smiled, holding up his Scroll, a GPS location pinging on it.

"Why don't you and Pausanias go ask her?" He held the Scroll out to Alexander who took it, staring at the screen as a smile spread across his face.

"Yeah, why don't we?"

…

Several days later the fire was low, but the moon was high in the sky, as Blake sat by the fire, staring into it quietly as the other members of the White Fang had retired to their beds some time ago. The camp was quiet, the crackling of the fire the only sound in their part of Forever Fall. That was, until a low whistle rang out from behind Blake, causing her to spin around, standing up as she did so, hands shooting to the weapon sheathed on her back that she had recently received from Adam.

"Who's there?" She whisper spoke into the darkness, only to hear another whistle from the same direction a moment later. Her hand tightened, pulling Gambol Shroud from her back, and slowly walking towards the noise, her footsteps making almost no noise, though the second she left the outskirts of the camp, she felt someone following behind her, watching her, though when she turned to check, there was noone there.

She reached the treeline, eyes darting back and forth, scanning the trunks carefully, watching for anything out of the ordinary. However, once she stepped inside the forest, a hand slipped over her mouth, muffling the scream she let slip from her lips, another arm slipping around her waist and grabbing the hand that held Gambol Shroud, pinning it to her hip so she couldn't maneuver her weapon.

She looked frantically around when the man behind her didn't move, expecting someone to attack her from the front, but her eyes widened, and she almost screamed again, when a man dropped from above, landing almost silently in a crouch in front of her, straightening up into the form of a man who, against all odds, had remained unseen while wearing all white in a red forest at night. He smiled at her as he nodded to his accomplice, who moved his hand from around hers, and squeezed her forearm, hard, pinching a pressure point, and forcing her to release Gambol Shroud, which he instantly kicked a few meters away.

"Blake, wonderful to see you again." He said, and her eyes widened in realization.

"Ah, you remember me. Good. Hopefully that will make this next part easier. My friend here is going to remove his hand from your mouth and step away from you so you and I can have a conversation. You are not going to scream, or try to signal to your White Fang friends, nor will you try to go for your weapon. Trust me, if you try to do either of those things, my friend and I will drop you and hand you over to Vale PD faster than you can blink to be prosecuted in connection to every crime that the White Fang has been accused of in the past year. Got it?" He continued before waiting for her response to his question. When she nodded, he locked eyes with his partner, who backed up, his grip on Blake disappearing.

"Lovely. Now, Blake, I imagine you don't want to go home." Alexander said, his smile still plastered on his face.

"I can't go back. Not yet, at least. The White Fang isn't what it used to be, but we're helping faunus everywhere. We're making a difference." She responded emphatically, and he nodded thoughtfully, his lips pursed in thought.

"Well, that does make my job a bit harder, though that is not to say that this has to be a total loss. Blake, I believe that we can be of mutual benefit to each other. See, both Vale PD and the Atlesian military would love to have an intelligence asset inside the White Fang. Now, at some point, Blake, you will get pinched. If you do some favors for us, give us target dates and times, your punishment will at least be reduced, if not eliminated altogether. I know that you don't agree with everything Adam Taurus has you guys doing. Can you help us out, Blake?" He asked, his smile spreading wider.

"I can't give you everything…" She said, quietly and hesitantly.

"Don't need everything. Just what you can get us while keeping yourself safe." Alexander responded calmly, but quickly, his expression sobering.

"How will I get in touch with you?" She asked, confused, until Alexander pulled a Scroll out of his pocket, holding it out to her. When she didn't grab it immediately, he shook it impatiently, motioning towards it.

"C'mon, Blake, you asked, here it is. Don't worry, we only give the exploding ones to the _leaders_ of the terrorists." His tone was deadpan, almost imperceptibly mirthful. She took it hesitantly, and Alexander lowered his arm.

"In that phone are four numbers. One is my number, saved as 'Ullr'. If you have a tip, call me first. If you can't reach me, and have tried calling me several times, saved under the name 'Huginn', is the number of a friend of mine. He's your next call with a tip. If he doesn't pick up for some reason, there is a direct line to the chief of Vale PD, saved as 'Tyr', but he should be your last possible option. Got that?" He finished, and she nodded her assent to his question, but paused, looking at the phone a bit confused.

"Who's the last number?" She asked.

"Your father. He's worried, give him a call sometime. He just wants to know that you're okay. Alright?" Blake nodded.

"Good. Talk to you soon, Blake." He said, turning to walk away soundlessly. He couldn't have been more than ten paces from her when she bent down to pick up Gambol shroud, but when she looked up, he had disappeared, as had his friend behind her. After a minute of waiting, listening to the deafening silence of the woods, she pulled out the Scroll, and dialed the first number, labeled 'Father'.

"Dad?" She asked, her voice choked a bit with happiness and regret.

"No, I can't come home yet. I have something I have to do here first."

…

"So, what you're saying, is that you absolutely, one hundred percent, do not need our help." Roland said, the face on the other end was Lily's sand blasted, sun baked visage, that looked quite annoyed at the moment. Behind it was wood panelling, indicating that they were back at the Belladonna household after a few days out in the Menagerie desert.

"Yes, Roland, as I've been saying for the past ten minutes, we don't need you guys down here. You've done your mission. Let us do ours, okay?" She smiled comfortingly, and the paladin relented, though he still looked conflicted.

"Yeah, alright. Get back here as soon as you can. Ozpin said he wanted to speak to us about something, but won't say what until you guys got back. I think that's where Alexander is right now." Roland was confused and a little angry at being left in the dark, as evidenced by the shift in emotion on his face.

"Yeah, well, that guy doesn't exactly listen when people tell him to leave something alone." Uranus said, as he walked behind Lily, waving to Roland and Pausanias before resting his rifle against the wall behind Lily.

"I don't blame him on this one. I'm almost as annoyed as he seems, though not for long. Everytime he goes to meet Ozpin, he comes back angrier. We'll see how he ends up when he gets back." Pausanias chipped in, and the assassin and paladin talked to the others still in Menagerie for a bit before hanging a few minutes before they heard someone stomping down the hallway outside their dorm, opening and slamming the door across the hall forcefully. They opened their door and waited until Alexander walked out a moment later, carrying athletic tape, a towel, a water bottle, and having changed into his workout clothes.

"Something wrong?" Roland asked, receiving nothing in response but angry grumbling from the Specialist, who walked down the hallway in the same huff as earlier. Roland and Pausanias looked at each other, shrugging their shoulders, before walking back into their dorm.

A few hours later, the moon was slowly rising in the night sky. In the Beacon workout facilities, a man wearing a red cape slowly walked through the halls, ducking into the weight room, looking in the locker room, and finally looking into the smallest room, where the few hand to hand fighters practiced their skills. In one corner, a speed bag hung from a metal rig screwed to the wall. The main area of the room was dominated by the sparring ring, which was more of a raised dais that had a fence running around the edge with two doors in the fence. In the back corner, farthest away from the door, a heavy bag hung from the metal rig.

A dull, repetitive thud pulled Qrow's attention to the heavy bag, in front of which Alexander was standing, mercilessly pounding the heavy bag. Qrow walked up behind the Specialist, not saying a word, waiting for Alexander to say something. After a few minutes of silence, Alexander turned around, the tape falling off of his knuckles, looking absolutely exhausted, but still managing to look thunderously angry.

"Do you support Ozpin's decision?" Alexander asked, his voice thick with anger, his breath ragged. Qrow waited a few seconds, looking at Alexander regretfully.

"Not completely. But I think it is the only decision there is to make." Qrow said, and Alexander turned on his heel with a yell, planting his fist into the heavy bag hard enough that it shook the rig it hung from, and a small seam on the side split, spilling sand onto the ground beneath it. Alexander quickly grabbed some tape from on the ground next to the bag, and wrapped several layers of tape around the heavy bag to cover up the hole.

"So, no other decisions, huh?" Alexander said, strangely calm, his anger finally bleeding out of him as he sat down next to the heavy bag, leaning his back against the wall. Qrow sat down next to him after a moment.

"From what I could tell, everything points to the fact that the people that hired Roman Torchwick are looking to finish the job. The only move is to fake her death, and hide her, hopefully give her enough time to gain some real control over, and skill with, her powers. Right now she's like a wildfire, a lot of power, but no direction. If we get her enough time, hopefully she can become the force that the people who want her dead fear her to be. Of course, she'll be checked on regularly, but you can't have any direct contact with her. They know that you two are close. If you start visiting the same place, or start making consistent visits, they'll get wise, and follow you right to her." Qrow spoke slowly, as if he didn't want to say the words even as they came out of his mouth.

"And what's to stop them from just following you to her?" Alexander asked, and Qrow smiled, confusing the Specialist.

"From what we've figured out, they fear me. That's why I haven't run into anyone of note, or seen Watts, even though I've been looking for the mustached bastard." Qrow said with a cocky attitude. Alexander punched him in the shoulder.

"Yeah, just what we need, you to get a bigger head. Asshole." Alexander joked, making Qrow laugh. Alexander calmed down a bit, before remembering something.

"Oh! By the way, I gave a White Fang member your number." Alexander said, and Qrow's head turned so quickly his neck cracked, making Alexander bust out laughing.

"What? Why?" The Huntsman looked so disbelieving that Alexander couldn't stop laughing for a minute, and even when he calmed down, chuckles would keep him from talking for a bit until he was totally calm.

"Well, I needed someone that I could trust for her to call in case she couldn't get to me, and I didn't want the Vale PD chief to be her second person to call. So, you came to mind. I figured you wouldn't mind. I didn't give her your real name, and she shouldn't ever have to call you. She's my inside guy." Alexander paused, eyebrows furrowing, head tilting as he thought.

"Would it be inside gal? Inside girl?" He shook his head.

"She's going to give me tips about White Fang ops when she can manage it. Nothing else." Alexander said, and Qrow was nodding thoughtfully next to him, only half hearing him.

"Hello?" Alexander waved his hand in front of Qrow's face. The Huntsman's eyes focused, and he turned to Alexander.

"I'm pretty sure it would be inside gal." He said it so nonchalantly that Alexander couldn't stop the laugh that burst out.

…

 **Four Years before the Battle of Beacon**

"I'm sorry to call you all here on the heels of such a loss. Amber was a wonderful girl, and I know she cared for every single one of you as family. Her death a few days past was truly a tragedy." Ozpin looked at each member of IPRL in turn before looking at the last three members of AQUA. Alexander was stone-faced, but for his eyes, which were stormy with grief and anger as he stood with his hands clasped behind his back. Quentin was quietly staring at the floor between his shoes, his shoulders shaking almost imperceptibly. Next to him, Uranus's eyes were moist with tears, and he was blinking frequently in an attempt to keep those tears from falling, while he stared at the headmaster silently like his teammates. IPRL was not quite so subtle in their grief.

Lily, always the most emotional of the eight, was openly weeping into Roland's shoulder while he rubbed her back, his ears flat against his head, his lips quivering as tears made tracks down his cheeks. Pausanias was, as per usual, quiet, though his lack of noise was not due to his usual propensity towards silence, but due to shock as he stared wide eyed at Ozpin. Ianthe was angry, having been the one closest to Amber when she fell overboard and never resurfaced. Ozpin internally suspected that she blamed herself for Amber's apparent death, as the girl had never surfaced. In reality, Ironwood had several waterproof Atlesian Knights grab her underwater and take her to a Bullhead hovering over the water some distance away, before destroying the Knights and all records of their commands.

"Well, every cloud has it's silver lining. As of today, the official completion of your mission for Chieftain Belladonna, you have fulfilled every requirement set by Beacon for graduating students. You are officially full-fledged Hunters. Well done, you all have earned it." Ozpin said, and Alexander looked at him confused.

"I'm sorry, sir?" He asked, and Ozpin smiled at him kindly.

"You all completed all your required classes before you left for the Vytal tournament, unlike your classmates, who could not enter. As such, you only needed to go on an official mission outside the kingdom to fulfill all the requirements, and you all have just done exactly that, and even though three of you weren't outside the kingdom for long, it still counts. Congratulations. You are welcome to stay in your dorms for a few months, as most graduates do, until the next class of first years completes initiation, when we will need those rooms." Ozpin said, and everybody but Alexander walked out numbly, sad and angry, the good news having done nothing to lift their spirits.

"So that's it? We end like that?" Alexander asked, and Ozpin looked sad when he nodded.

"Yes. Your time here at Beacon has been, I hope, some of the best years of your life. I hope you look back on them fondly." Ozpin spoke with a voice full of regret.

"I hope so too, Professor." Alexander said, turning to leave office, but only made it a few steps before he was stopped by Ozpin's voice.

"What are your plans after graduation, if you don't mind me asking, Specialist?" He asked, and Alexander turned around.

"I hadn't given it much thought, Professor. I was going to talk to Quentin and Uranus, find out what they were thinking of doing, maybe head back to Atlas." He spoke a bit quietly, and Ozpin leaned forward, resting his forearms on his desk.

"Well, when I spoke to Amber this morning, she asked me to play you something. Would you like to hear what it was?" Ozpin asked, and Alexander stood a bit uncomfortably for a few seconds before he nodded. Ozpin hit a button on his Scroll and Alexander walked closer to hear better. After a few seconds of what sounded like shuffling, before the sound of a woman clearing their throat preceded the sound of Amber's voice.

"Hey Alexander. I hope you decided to listen to this. I told Ozpin you would, but he didn't quite seem to believe me. Anyway, what I wanted to talk about." There was a pause punctuated with a heavy sigh.

"Alright. Alexander, when I, uhh, _died_ a few days ago, I was allowed to read a few things, mostly heavily classified things, some of which were about you. They included some of the operations you have been a part of in your free time, including the long standing mission to find Raven Branwen, and several missions for the Atlesian military. And, to be completely honest, they are pretty impressive. They helped me realise something about you that has been bugging me for a long time. You never really seemed happy at Beacon." Alexander looked personally affronted, something that made Ozpin smile.

"Not that you didn't find things at Beacon that you enjoyed, because you did. You love everyone on our team, and on IPRL, so much, no matter how shitty you are at expressing it. I blame your upbringing." Amber laughed at her joke, making Alexander smile.

"But you never seemed truly happy. Sure, killing Grimm with Hunters has been a lifelong goal of yours, and you do it well when you have to, but it's not what you were meant to do, and you don't really enjoy it. I saw it in Menagerie. Roland and Pausanias looked mad, almost legitimately angry that they couldn't go on a mission to kill Grimm. But you, you were happy. You got to help people in the best way you know how, hunting someone down for the betterment of society and the people close to them. I don't know anyone else that would have thought to turn Blake into an asset instead of forcing her to go home. You gave her the ability to do what she wanted, help society, and ease her father's mind at the same time. You're a great Hunter, but maybe you should be hunting people for the Atlesian Military instead of fighting Grimm. Whatever you decide, know that I fully support you. You are like the brother I never had, and I couldn't ask for a better one." The recording faded to silence, and Alexander was wiping tears from the corner of his eyes, smiling, when her voice rang out.

"And, for fuck's sake, take that Schnee out on a date. You clearly like her, and she likes you, you absolute moron. Just ask her out, idiot!" Alexander broke out laughing when the recording ended finally, Ozpin watching him with a smile that filled his eyes with joy. Alexander finally calmed down, holding his stomach as he took a few deep breaths to calm himself down.

"Well, that answers your question, I guess, headmaster. Turns out she knows me infinitely better than I know myself. Not that I ever suspected any differently." Alexander said, happy, his smile seeming more comfortable and content every second.

"Nor did I. Amber was always very insightful. She recorded a message for every member of your team, as well as IPRL. If you could tell them to come see me to hear them, I will explain to them that she recorded them before she died." Ozpin said, and Alexander sighed as he nodded, his expression sobering a bit, though the smile never left his eyes.

"Sure thing, Professor. I'll tell them first thing tomorrow." He said, walking out of Ozpin's office, turning to face the headmaster in the elevator, bringing his heels together, and saluting the Headmaster as the door closed. Ozpin returned it, and both lowered their hands as the door to the elevator closed in front of the Specialist.

…

 **A/N: Alright, hey guys, hope you enjoy the chapter. Thanks for reading, and, as always, reviews and private messages are always welcome. Thanks to Bulba Fett for betaing. See you all next time. PEACE!**

 **Bulba Fett: I read things...sometimes I fix things...WORSHIP ME!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: We do not own RWBY in any way. This is a fan written story, obviously, and all rights belong to Rooster Teeth Productions. Please support the official release.**

…

Chapter 7: A Change in Scenery

…

"The general who advances without coveting fame and retreats without fearing disgrace,

whose only thought is to protect his country and do good service for his sovereign,

is the jewel of the kingdom."

-Sun Tzu

"They say great times make great men. I don't buy it.

I saw a lot of weakness, a lot of filth.

People who should have risen to the challenge and either couldn't or wouldn't.

Greed, fear, stupidity, and hate. I saw it before the war, I see it today.

I don't know if great times make great men, but I know they can kill them."

-Max Brooks

 _World War Z_

…

 **Three Years and Ten Months before the Battle of Beacon**

Alexander sat, a white beret on his head, in his recently issued and more recently altered Atlesian military uniform of white camo pants tucked into his combat boots, a matching white camo button up over a white t shirt, his pistols holstered on his thighs and on either shoulder, his emblem, an orange circle surrounded by sunbursts of the same color, had been detailed. A tattoo of the same emblem was also on his right forearm, above the words 'Team AQUA' in black, though his tattoo was covered by his sleeve currently. After sitting there quietly for a while, a coffee was set down in front of him by the waitress, who he thanked with a smile.

'Is she ever going to show up? She's the one that asked to meet, stands to reason she would be here by now.' he thought as he scratched at his cheek. He had just finished his first assignment as a newly instated Specialist in the Atlesian military earlier that day, tracking down a drug ring. Alexander had grabbed the kingpin's money manager, who had flipped almost immediately, giving them everything they needed, on the condition that he remain anonymous. They had agreed, and now Alexander had a money launderer out in the field that owed him some pretty huge favors, and Alexander had helped bring the drug ring into custody, though several seemed hell bent on fighting rather than going to jail.

The bell to the coffee shop rang, and Alexander's eyes shot up, electric blue locking with two pools of ice. He smiled, kicking out the chair across from him with a motion towards it with his hand. Winter rolled her eyes before walking and taking the offered seat. She ordered a coffee from the waitress before turning to look at Alexander, who was looking her up and down, taking in her new attire.

She wore a white tailcoat that was lined with blue, over a blue vest that itself was over a white shirt. A red broach was over her throat, holding the high collar of her coat together, the upper half of her arms was uncovered, and her hands were covered in black gloves. When she walked in, he saw that she was wearing thigh high high heeled boots that were connected to garters that disappeared under her vest. Her hair, but for one bang that covered her right eye partially, was pulled into her usual bun on the back of her head.

"Knight-Commander. Quite the title, Specialist." Alexander said with a smile that widened when she huffed, an action that he had long realized meant that she was embarrassed.

"You know, that makes you my CO, technically." He laughed when she rolled her eyes at him again.

"Completely separate division from yours, Commander. Military Intelligence wouldn't let me order around any of their ranking officers, especially their highest ranking operative, even if I wanted to. Your subordinates are fiercely loyal. Not that you would listen to me, anyway." She said, and he smiled suggestively at her.

"Maybe if you asked nicely." He joked, laughing when her cheeks got a bit red. After a few seconds of laughing, he calmed down as a waitress dropped off Winter's coffee.

"Well, how are you doing?" She asked, a bit stiffly.

"Quite well, Winter, how about you?" He responded, and she looked out the window they were sitting next to, a small frown on her face.

"I am alright. My sister is, struggling, from what I can gather." She said, and Alexander's face fell, frowning slightly.

"Is that so?" He asked, and she nodded. Alexander looked at Winter critically for a few seconds, thinking, before he spoke again.

"Is that why you asked me here so soon after finishing a mission?" He asked, and she nodded.

"I knew you would be both in Atlas, and available, and I didn't know how long either of those would last." She said, her voice quieter than normal as she looked down at her coffee.

"Alright, and what do you want me to do about it?" He asked, and she looked up with a fire in her eyes.

"My father fears you. I would like you to make him stop hitting Weiss." She said, and Alexander sighed.

"I can't do that, Winter." He said, and she stared at him in shock.

"What? Why?" She asked, voice full of concern for her sister.

"Because Klein already called me, and told me about Weiss's situation. Her injuries are from training. I already talked to her and told her to slow down, that training wouldn't do her any good if she wasn't in any condition to use it, and she said she would. That's all it was, Winter, just Weiss being too enthusiastic and working too hard." He said, and she blinked a few times.

"But, Klein said that Father hit Weiss…" She trailed off, staring at Alexander.

"And I'm sure that he did, but unless there is evidence, video proof, or Jacques's own confession to it, I can't just bust in and start threatening people. I'm in uniform again, Winter, I have protocols to follow. A few months back, before I was either a licensed Huntsman, or officially part of the military, I would have done it on a whisper from a bird, but I can't anymore. I'm sorry." He spoke quietly, just loud enough for her to hear him, his head bowed slightly regretfully. She smiled sadly at him, pushing his head up so he was looking at her again with a finger on his chin.

"Don't apologize. Thank you for looking into it, nonetheless. It means a lot to me." She stared into his eyes until he nodded his acceptance. He sighed, looking at the coffee on the table thoughtfully.

"I don't feel like going back to the _Yggdrasil_ quite yet." He said, looking back her with a smile.

"What about you?" He asked, and she smiled.

"No, I don't either." She said, and he looked around the shop thoughtfully.

"Wanna go see a movie? Get dinner afterward?" He said, and she smiled.

"Sure, let's go."

…

 **Three Years and Eight Months before the Battle of Beacon**

Alexander walked next to Winter, wearing his dress uniform, as a pair of large oaken doors slowly opened in front of them. Behind the two of them walked General Ironwood, a small smile on his face as he watched the two Specialists, the way the two unconsciously, and almost unnoticeably, leaned toward one another as they walked through the doorway. A massive crystal chandelier dominated the center of the towering ceiling of the ballroom in the Schnee mansion. The walls to their sides and directly ahead of them each had several wide floor to ceiling plate glass windows. Off to their right, Klein stood behind a podium with a pen and a ledger, smiling at the Specialist and General as he crossed their names off a list. In typical military fashion, they had arrived a few minutes early, and thus the ballroom was fairly empty except for Jacques, his two children, and a woman who looked too regal to be anyone except for the matriarch of the Schnee family, Anna Schnee.

The military trio walked over to the Schnees, where a clear divide was present, if one cared to look. Alexander noticed the way Whitley stood perhaps half a step closer to his father than he did to Weiss, who seemed to be doing her best to ignore her father, who was talking on and on about some nonsensical and unimportant business deal that he had just completed. Jacques seemed to fail to notice the lack of interest from the female Schnees, though Anna Schnee was staring at him intensely, a malicious glint in her eye. Jacques stopped talking as Alexander and Winter approached them, catching Ironwood's gaze from over his Specialist's shoulders. Jacques extended a hand that seemed hesitant, that Alexander grasped, stepping in closer to Jacques.

"Jacques, I hope you remember who I am now." He spoke quietly, so that nobody could hear them, leaning back with a forced smile on his face.

"Mister Schnee, a, uh, a pleasure, I'm sure." Alexander smile was genuine now, noting the anger in Jacques's eyes, and out of the corner of his eye, noting a similar look on Whitley's face. Alexander stepped to the side so that Winter could greet her father, leaning down a bit to shake the hand that Weiss extended toward him, with a suppressed smile on her face. She wore a white skirt that faded into a pale blue around the edge, and white flats, her hair pulled into an off center ponytail that was held in place by a sparkling diamond tiara that looked like icicles.

"Weiss, how are you?" He asked, straightening up and watching Anna Schnee out of the corner of his eye.

"I'm doing quite well, and you?" She asked.

"Quite well myself. That was a wonderful performance you gave, you are a truly gifted singer." He replied, seeing a flash of pride in her eyes.

"Mother says I got it from her father, but I still have some way to go before I am as good as he was." She said, and Alexander saw a smile pull at the Schnee matriarch's mouth in his periphery.

"Well, innate skill is good, but it is only the beginning. If you put half as much effort into your singing as you do into your Huntress training, you will be truly remarkable." He smiled at the young teenager, stepping over to Anna Schnee after Weiss thanked him.

"Misses Anna Schnee, a pleasure to meet you." He said, inclining his head ever so slightly, waiting for her to extend her hand. She quirked an eyebrow momentarily before extending a slender hand that he took in his own, kissing her knuckles.

"If you have been getting your information from either of my daughters, I'm sure it is anything but." She spoke evenly, every word measured and near emotionless, with a slight rasp to her voice that was not unpleasant, simply different from what Alexander was used to hearing. Her pale blue eyes were sharp, focused on his own, her hair pulled into a low bun, a bang falling across her left temple, as if Winter had chosen her hairstyle to purposely be opposite her mother's. Anna wore a light blue gown that left her shoulders and her clavicle bare, fell to the floor in the back, but curved up and stopped at mid calf in the front. She wore light blue heels that still only brought her eyeline up to Alexander's chin, while Winter, who wore heeled boots of a similar lift, had her eye line at Alexander's nose.

"Perhaps, but nonetheless, before you married Jacques you were a very accomplished woman. Graduated top of your class at university, successfully ran an international conglomerate for several months before your husband took over, and before you attended university, you were an incredible pianist from what I gather. Your achievements are, to me, at least, reason enough to overlook some, personal and familial mistakes you may have made, depending on who you ask." He watched her eyes widen as he spoke.

"Yes, well, just because you overlook them does not mean that other people, myself included, are so willing to do so." Her sadness leaked through as she spoke, layering itself under her even and emotionless cadence.

"We all make mistakes, ma'am, perhaps there is still time to rectify yours. Not everyone gets that chance." Alexander said, stepping away when he noticed that Winter had finished talking to Weiss. She eyed Alexander warily as he walked over to a bar that had been set up against the wall. He stopped in front of it, facing the bar, leaning on his forearms, the entrance to the ballroom to his right. A man and a woman were working behind the bar, the man having nails that were ever so slightly longer and sharper than they should have been, and his forearms, revealed by the black button up he had rolled up to his elbows, were thick with hair. The woman next to him wore a shirt of the same color and a skirt to match. The man walked over to Alexander, and he got his first good look at the man's face.

He had a harsh jawline, and the glasses he wore naturally drew Alexander's attention up to his kind but stern dark brown eyes. His light brown hair was slicked back away from his forehead, and was streaked through with grey.

"Alright, lad, what'll it be?" He asked, looking at the Specialist expectantly.

"You have any beer?" Alexander asked, and noted the surprise on the man's face.

"Indeed we do. I'll pour you a pint." He turned around, pulling a pint glass from below the corner as he did, and turned to face Alexander again after a few moments, putting the glass of amber liquid in front of him. Alexander thanked him and pulled out his wallet, digging some lien out and holding it out to the bartender.

"That should cover, it, yeah?" Alexander looked at him questioningly when the man didn't take it immediately.

"There's nothing wrong with it, right?" Alexander asked, and the man shook his head.

"No, it's just, well, it's an open bar. You don't have to pay." Alexander stared at him for a few seconds before putting the money down on the bar anyway.

"Consider it a tip. I bet most of the people that will be attending this won't carry any money on them, much less actually actually be willing to part with it. No need to go home empty handed." Alexander picked up the glass, taking a sip and smiling.

"Thank you very much for this. I'll need it to get through the next few hours. I fully expect them to be absolutely dreadful. Have a nice evening." Alexander walked off as the man picked the lien off the counter and handed it to the other bartender. Alexander watched as the amount of people in the ballroom steadily grew, all VIPs that Jacques had personally invited to Weiss's first performance. Winter had not been initially invited, but Weiss had insisted that she come. Alexander had been asked to attend the concert and after party as Winter's plus one.

As Alexander walked over to the Schnee women, he stopped for a moment before turning around, quickly downing the beer in his hand. He handed the pint glass to the male bartender, who took through a door Alexander hadn't noticed. The female bartender handed him the two glasses of wine he asked for, dropping some more lien on the bar with a wink and a smile before walking off with the glasses of wine.

"I thought you might need this." Alexander said, extending the wine glass in his left hand to Winter, who took it with a grateful smile. He looked over at Anna, who looked at him sadly and shook her head. Winter widened her eyes in shock.

"If I start, I will not stop, and I would like to remember tonight." She smiled sadly, and Alexander's eyes widened in realization.

"Right. Well, more for Winter, then, I suppose, whenever she finishes." Alexander shifted on his feet a bit uncomfortably.

"How did you and my daughter meet?" Anna looked genuinely interested, but her eyes held a playful glint in them when she noticed the light dusting of blush on Winter's face.

"I was asked by General Ironwood some years back to help him with something that would also, in turn, help me with something I was helping Professor Ozpin with at the time. Anyways, I would say I didn't make the best first impression. I think Winter was a bit scared of me." He measured his words carefully, and Anna looked a bit disappointed with how vague he was, though she smiled mischievously at her daughter.

"You were scared of him?" Her tone was playful, and Winter suddenly gained an intense fascination with the wine in her glass.

"I was intimidated. He was an unknown, called in to do something that Ironwood wouldn't talk about. I was not nearly as intimidated the second time around." She said, glaring at Alexander pointedly.

"No, you seemed more interested than scared the second time around." He didn't note the way Anna's smile shifted from something mischievous to genuine happiness.

"Well, the second time around, I knew a lot more about you. Knowing you were the same age as me certainly helped take the fear out of it." She stared at him, locking eyes, both seeming to tune out the rest of the world around them.

"And if I hadn't had somewhere to be, I would have stayed to chat longer than I did." Anna cleared her throat and the two Specialists looked at her in surprise, having forgotten she was there.

"Was the second meeting before or after you saved my daughter?" Winter's eyes widened in shock, where Alexander started laughing.

"I didn't know you knew about that." Winter looked genuinely surprised, quite a feat. Anna smiled at her sadly.

"Just because I didn't come see you didn't mean I didn't want to." Winter's eyes glinted harshly.

"I was told you were too indisposed to come see me." Anna looked towards the ground, and swallowed a knot in her throat.

"I was. But I haven't drank since that day for that reason. Klein came to see me the day after he and Weiss visited, and told me what had happened, and that you would be okay. I cried so much that day that I didn't leave my room, and I certainly didn't drink. From there, it was not bringing myself to go, afraid that if I went to see you, you would turn me away. I was so ashamed for how i just tuned life out for so many years, so full of regret with the decisions I made. I told myself that I didn't deserve to reach out to you. That only if you reached out to me could I talk to you without my own guilt crushing me." The grief and regret in her eyes were evident, and Winter stared at her mother for a few long moments before embracing her, barely noticing how Alexander had long turned his back to give them some privacy, and how he had turned around quickly to take Winter's wine from her hand before turning back around.

"I'll call whenever I get a chance." Winter whispered to her mother, who smiled into her daughter's shoulder.

"Calling me at all would be more than I deserve." Anna whispered, smiling wider when Winter shook her head.

"You will always be my mother. And that is reason enough to deserve a call." The broke their embrace, Anna wiping her eyes carefully to stop the tears that had formed. The Schnee women stood silently for a few seconds until Alexander turned around and handed Winter her wine glass. Anna looked at him gratefully.

"Thank you for saving Winter. And Weiss as well. Seems to be a pattern. White Fang attacks a Schnee, you swoop in to help." He waved her off.

"It was nothing. Right place right time, is all." She looked at her daughter, an eyebrow quirked.

"Wow, and humble to boot. So, when's the wedding?" She smiled when Winter's stopped mid sip to stare at her mother in shock while Alexander started laughing.

"Mother, we only just started dating. That is far from our minds." She said, before stopping herself and looking over at Alexander, looking horrified, while Alexander just kept laughing.

"I wasn't aware the two of you were dating, Winter, you should tell me more." Winter looked at Alexander, who slowly composed himself.

"This is all you, Princess. I wasn't aware we were telling people." He smiled at her as she glared at him for a second or two before she relented, looking back at her mother.

"We've only gone out a few times." She took another sip of her wine, looking at Alexander.

"That is far more my fault than Winter's. I do a lot of information gathering for the Atlesian military and I still help a friend of mine with some work he does for Professor Ozpin when I have time." Alexander looked apologetic and a little sad, and Winter squeezed his forearm reassuringly.

"You do not need to apologize or feel bad for helping your friend, even if I don't particularly like him." He smiled gratefully at her, and the two seemed to just stare at each other, almost having a silent conversation that made both smile happily until Anna cleared her throat. The Specialists both looked at her, the repentant gaze from Alexander much clearer and easier to read than the more reserved Winter.

"So, Alexander, where did you grow up?" She asked, and Alexander's smile flickered for barely a moment, while Winter pursed her lips like she had eaten something bitter and was quite annoyed about it.

"I'm not terribly fond of talking about it." He replied, and Anna looked sad, nodding in understanding.

"So, I hear you went to Beacon?" Alexander looked grateful, and his smile became much more genuine.

"Yes I did. And it was incredible. I learned wonderful things, improved greatly as a person and a combatant, and made some incredible friends that I will never forget."

"Do you keep in touch with any of them?" She watched his smile dip again before he nodded.

"Yes. One of my teammates, Uranus, is currently working as Signal's weapons specialist, weapons design and fabrication instructor, and also personally oversees any and all weapons shipments to the school. My other teammate, Quentin, is back in his home in Mistral, protecting the village he grew up in, and helping the authorities clean up the streets when he can. Two of my other friends, Roland and Lily, moved down to Roland's home of Menagerie, where they have been making a living protecting the citizens. Another friend, Pausanias, moved back to Vacuo to be with his family, and regularly goes on hunting missions with his teammate Ianthe, who also moved back home to Vacuo." He paused, seeming to contemplate something for a long few moments. He sighed heavily before he spoke again.

"And those are the only ones I can keep in contact with. We were kind of our own little group at Beacon, didn't really talk to many teams outside our two except about classes or sparring." She nodded in understanding, her eyes seeming to rove over his face carefully, looking for something.

"What exactly do you do for the Atlesian military, Alexander?" She asked, and he smiled ruefully.

"I would tell you, but then I would have to kill you." He spoke in an ominous tone that was completely ruined by his smile. She just smiled good naturedly.

"Well, you Covert Ops types always did have a flair for theatrics." Alexander didn't even blink, staring right back at her, smiling the whole time.

"Well, we take pride in our work. After all, as people are so fond of reminding me, we're little more than criminals with a government paycheck."

…

 **Three Years and Five Months before the Battle of Beacon**

A smile graced Alexander's face as he thought of the last time he had seen Winter. He pulled a light brown patterned scarf up from his neck to cover the lower part of his face, and made sure the rest of the scarf, which had been wrapped around the top of his head, was still secure, completely covering his head and neck. Goggles covered his eyes, and he wore a tan shirt over a white t shirt, tan gloves, slightly darker brown cargo pants were tucked into tan combat boots. He had a backpack on that was filled with water, two changes of clothes, spare ammunition, a tablet, and some food.

Over the dunes, Alexander saw a limestone spire that, when he got closer, was revealed to be attached to a huge wall that was dotted with identical spires every hundred feet or so. All in all, it was a massive, unyielding fortress. Or, at least, to the Grimm. Vacuo's main city that also held their combat academy was the only place in Vacuo that could be fully governed, due to the difficulty in actually enforcing the laws on the outskirt cities. Thus, Oasis, as the capital city was known, was by far the highest populated city in Vacuo, the next largest city being several hundred times smaller than the capital.

After another hour or so of walking, Alexander stood at one of three doors in the walls of Oasis, and one of four ways into the city. A doorway at the north, south, and west enabled foot traffic, what little there usually was, to enter the city relatively easy. The dock to the east enabled trade of the valuable Dust that was mined out in the harsh and brutal desert.

A pair of eyes looked at Alexander for a few moments through a slit in the door that was uncovered after Alexander knocked.

"Who are you?" The voice was rough, the accent heavy and unrefined, and clearly belonged to a man.

"I'm a Huntsman, I just completed a mission a few villages away, and I was hoping to stop here for a few days before heading back home." Alexander said, and watched the man's eyes narrow skeptically.

"If you're a Huntsman, where's your weapon? Everybody knows a Huntsman has a special weapon." Alexander sighed, reaching under his button down to grab the pistols he had holstered under his armpits. He pulled one out, showing the watchman, before spinning it to make it change into an escrima stick.

"Right here. Didn't want them out when I ran into that sandstorm earlier today." The watchman was quiet for a few seconds, and Alexander spoke up again.

"Hey, look, I know you guys only like opening these doors twice a day. I'm willing to wait for the miners to get back, if you'd like." The watchman's eyes widened.

"No need to do that, they won't be back for hours. I just need to get my watchmate, and we'll open up the door for you in a minute." The slot closed, and Alexander heard some muffled shouting through the door before it slowly inched open. When it was wide enough for him to slip through, he did, and the door slammed shut behind him. He saw two guardsmen, one burly, and a good head shorter than Alexander, the other taller than Alexander by a few inches, and was much skinnier, like someone had cloned his friend and stretched him out.

"Thanks for that, guys." Alexander pulled his scarf and goggles off so the scarf pooled around his neck, his goggles resting on top. The lean one squinted at him for a second while the other one shook the hand Alexander extended, before the lean one's eyes widened.

"Ey, mate, he's that fella what fought in a circle of fire at the last Vytal festival!" He words were heavily accented, indicating that he came from the outskirts of Vacuo. The burly one looked at him in surprise, his eyes wide as the lean one stepped forward to shake Alexander's hand enthusiastically.

"Fuckin' oath, mate, that was incredible! Me and Lou here, we didn't think you'd be able to actually take it to those blokes the way you did, but you fuckin' did it!" He was so happy and enthusiastic that Alexander genuinely felt bad about walking away, despite how uncomfortable the other man made him feel. He bid them farewell when the other man gave him a minute to speak, and walked away, the man talking animatedly to his burly partner until well after Alexander was out of earshot.

Alexander walked between tightly packed Adobe buildings that had been covered over with white plaster, though the plaster on most of the buildings had been tainted by the sand, turning most of the houses an off white color. The sides of each building had thick electrical cables snaking up the sides of them, feeding electricity into the buildings from the main electrical lines that crisscrossed under the ground of the city, which were supplied by a wind farm to the north of Oasis. Eventually, Alexander reached an inn, not much of a sight, and a bit hard to find, but he had been told by Qrow that it was a nice place that regularly catered to Hunters and military types. When he walked inside, he walked into a main room that had chairs and tables all over, but for a small stage in a corner with a stool. A bar extended from the wall to his left, stairs were directly across the room from him, and off to his right, there was a recess in the wall with a counter.

He walked up to the counter, where a willowy woman stood, reading something on a monitor. She looked up, her light amber eyes welcoming and kind. Her long orange hair cascaded down her back, and was streaked through intermittently with black. When she smiled, he noticed that her canines were sharper and a bit longer than normal. She wore a light green dress, the front of which was covered from the waist down by an apron.

"Welcome to the Cat's Claw Inn. My name is Felidae, how can I help you, traveler?"

"I'd like a room, if you have any available." He smiled hopefully at her, and she looked at her monitor for a moment before nodding and pulling a key out from under the counter.

"Sixty lien a night. How long will you be staying?" She asked, and he thought for a few seconds.

"Five nights." He pulled the lien out of his wallet and handed it over to her, who took it and typed something into her computer.

"Your name?" She asked, and he hesitated for a moment.

"Ethan Hunt." She smiled.

"A fitting name for a Huntsman." He smiled mischievously, taking his room key from her.

"Up the stairs, and last door on the right, Mr. Hunt." He gave her a wave over his shoulder as he walked up the stairs and walking down the hallway until he reached his room. He opened the door and stepped in, shutting it behind him. The room had a single bed, a desk, and a bathroom, the last of which he was very thankful for. After a nice hot shower, he walked back into the room and changed, he pulled out his scroll and dialed a number. He put the scroll down on the desk while it rang, and reached into his right ear, and pulled out his ruined earpiece. A plastic cap first, trailing wires behind it until the other half of the housing came out with it. He put it on the desk too and smashed it a few times before sweeping it into the trashcan under the desk. Right then, General Ironwood's face filled his Scroll's screen.

"Alexander, where have you been? Your earpiece signal cut out days ago, and nobody has been able to reach you over your Scroll." Alexander scowled a bit as he sat down at the desk, picking up his scroll.

"Shou Tucker was a nasty bastard. One of his Grimm got a good hit on me, and nailed me right in the ear. Guess the impact busted my earpiece. After I took care of the sicko and his enslaved Grimm, I still had a several day trek through a sandstorm. It was a real bitch. Pretty sure in like, eight years, I'll still be finding sand in my orifices." Ironwood nodded in understanding after a moment of thought.

"Alright. And you know the rest of your mission?" Alexander nodded.

"Find and eliminate other known associates of Doctor Arthur Watts, one Hans Landa, and one Verbal Kint. Verbal Kint is here in Oasis now, but Hans Landa will arrive by boat in two days. Verbal Kint is an 'alleged' conman and thief, likely responsible for a large portion of funding that Watts and whoever he works for need to continue whatever their operations are. He runs a crime ring all over Vacuo and Mistral, and Hans Landa is his enforcer. Take those two down, and Watts loses a lot of manpower and money. Stick around for a few days and lay low to throw suspicion off of me before catching a boat to Vale, then another to Menagerie before heading back to Atlas by ways of a boat that will stop briefly in Mistral. Spend some time on each continent, gather intel where I can on my way back." He spoke robotically, reciting his briefing files. Ironwood nodded in approval.

"Good work. See you by the end of the month. I'll have another mission for you when you return." Alexander's Scroll screen went black after he saluted General Ironwood. He looked at his bed longily before sighing and picking up his pistols from his bed, holstering them under his shirt. He slid a knife into his boot before wrapping his scarf around his neck and hanging his goggles around his neck so they rested on his scarf. Locking the door behind him, he walked back down the hall and descended the stairs to see someone in a dark brown cloak eating at a table in a secluded corner, their face hidden by a hood, though Alexander's eyes were momentarily drawn to the golden boots they wore, though he shook it off and stepped out the door.

He pulled his goggles on, and pulled up his scarf as well as he walked through the streets, slipping in and out of crowds with ease, eyes darting this way and that under the darkened lenses of his goggles. About two hours later of searching, Alexander saw Verbal Kint walking out of a building with no sign, holding a bag with something in it. Verbal was a rather unremarkable man, thinning brown hair, brown eyes, and wore a white shirt and light brown pants. He was followed, remarkably discretely, by two men, both average height, and wearing nothing particularly notable, though they were clearly carrying weapons under their shirts, and were in noticeably better shape than a normal civilian would be in.

Alexander followed them for several hours as they walked around the city, occasionally ducking into stores, and walking out with a bag or two. Eventually the sun went down, and the cold started to seep into everybody's skin. Not long after that, Alexander tailed the trio to a three story house near the center of the city, less than five hundred meters from the CCT tower in the true center of the city. He waited for another two hours before he headed back to the inn, following the winding streets and alleys until he stepped inside, closing the door behind him. He took off his goggles and scarf, looking around the room. Mostly grizzled faces met his gaze, though he noticed the same person with the golden boots and brown cloak sitting in the same corner as earlier that day.

He walked over to the bar and ordered some mutton and a beer from the bartender, a portly man who walked out to greet Alexander through a door behind the bar he hadn't noticed before. It was into this same door that the man walked after getting Alexander's order, and emerged from about twenty minutes later, mutton on a plate next to some vegetables. He set the plate down and poured Alexander a beer as Alexander looked around a little more. The person in the cloak had long since finished their food, though they seemed to have no intention of leaving anytime soon, if their half-finished water was any indication.

Alexander ate his meal quickly, retreating up to his room afterwards. Locking the door behind him, he almost immediately collapsed into the bed, drifting off to sleep minutes late.

…

The next day, Alexander was once again following Verbal Kint through the streets, this time farther away, and without his head scarf, though he kept the goggles. He followed the crime lord through the streets of Oasis for most of the day, only stopping when Verbal stopped. He grabbed small snacks, little portions of food here and there that kept him sustained through the day, having not had enough time to grab a real meal since his breakfast at the inn. Several hours after dark, having determined that Verbal Kint wasn't going anywhere, having gone into the house that he had the night prior, Alexander trekked back to the inn.

He ate the same dinner as the previous night, and again noticed the person in the hooded cloak in the same corner as before. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously, his irises lighting up a bit, but the person in the cloak lowered their head too quickly for him to get a good idea of what they looked like.

The day after that, Hans Landa, a man of medium height, blonde hair, and dark blue eyes, landed at the docks, flanked by two guards of his own, and though Verbal made no attempt to meet with him during the day, both criminals returned to the same house that Alexander had come to realize was less of a safehouse for one or two members of the crime ring, but was rather much more like a wasp nest. He stayed an hour later that night, simply surveying the house from a safe distance, watching the different cameras around the outside, and how all the exterior and interior lights seemed to be motion activated, something that concerned the Specialist, as he had been planning on sneaking into the house to kill the criminals, though that seemed less and less possible with every passing second he spent watching the house.

Another two days of following and watching the duo, who took great pains to not be seen together until they returned to the safe house at night. Alexander started to see the person in the brown cloak out in the city, following him through the streets. He would usually huff angrily when he noticed the person, who always managed to duck out of sight before he could get a good idea on what they looked like.

The sixth day of surveillance, Alexander started hiring various children, drifters, homeless, and boozers, all of whom were watching the streets almost twenty-four seven. Another five days, and since luckily they were both men of habit, he had a good idea of the patterns that Verbal Kint and Hans Landa walked. He had been forced to pay out more lien than he would have liked, on account of just how many people he payed to watch the two men.

Three times of the day, the two men were less than a five minute walk away from each other, barely a minute apart if Alexander sprinted. He would need to eliminate both men as fast as possible so that the guards with them wouldn't lock the other down before he could get to them.

An hour before noon, the men were just down the street from each other, and though it would make it easy for Alexander to move from one target to the other, both men were in clear sight of each other at all times, so he scrapped that time. Three hours after noon, Hans Landa would be a block west of Verbal Kint, but would still be within shouting distance of each other, so if Alexander got in a fight with one and his guards, the other would hear him.

Which left noon. At noon, Hans Landa would go into the same restaurant as ever, named The Judge and Jury, and order the same meal as every other lunch, a serving of prime rib, baked potato, and steamed vegetables. A simple lunch that was nonetheless filling, and difficult to poison without it being detected, as most poisons had a distinct odor that could usually be covered up by alcohol, or aggressive seasonings, neither of which the enforcer ordered with his lunch. He changed tables everyday, which meant unless Alexander was willing to stomach dozens of collateral casualties, explosives were out as well.

At the same time, Verbal Kint would be walking towards an inn around the corner where, after an hour of busying himself in the market outside the inn, he would eat lunch at the inn.

…

Alexander sat in a booth in The Judge and Jury. He wore a new solid black scarf wrapped around his head and face, orange lensed goggles, a dark blue shirt, and simple black pants. A small knapsack was on the ground between his feet, and he watched the entrance to the tavern carefully. He looked away for a moment, checking the time on his Scroll and heard the hostess speak.

"Ah, Mr. Waltz, right this way. We have a table open for you right now." She picked up three menus, one for Hans Landa, and one for each bodyguard with him. As they walked, Alexander slowly rose from his booth, slinging his knapsack across his back as he did. Hans Landa sat down on one side of the booth, his bodyguards on another as the hostess handed the menus out. A window behind the booth gave the three men a nice people watching opportunity while they ate. As the hostess walked away, she bumped into Alexander, and looked embarrassed for but a moment until he looked down at her, and she left quickly.

He walked up to the table with the criminal enforcer and his guards, drawing their attention.

"I'm sorry, is there something we can do for you?" Hans Landa spoke slowly, his every word deliberate as he sized Alexander up.

Without saying anything, Alexander drew his pistols from under his shirt, and unloaded almost every bullet he had in his magazines into the booth. The bodyguards dropped almost instantly, their auras little more than that of a civilian. Hans, however, withstood almost half a magazine before his aura broke, and the booth ran with blood. Screams erupted around the restaurant and in the street outside as Alexander shot through the window behind the booth, before jumping out, breaking the glass in the process as he sprinted through the streets, reloading his pistols as he ran.

He reached the market barely a minute later, looking about quickly as people ran this way and that, having heard the gunshots from the tavern. Alexander spotted Verbal Kint being ushered into an alleyway by his bodyguards, and ran after them, shoving through the crowd. He ran up behind the bodyguards, following them through several twists and turns before he stopped and leveled his pistols as they turned, dropping them in seconds. He had to chase after Verbal for a few more feet, but tackled the man to the ground easily, before slamming his head against the ground, breaking his aura and then putting several rounds in the criminal's chest.

Alexander ran off as fast as he could, trying to get as much distance between him and the body of Verbal Kint as he could before the police got there. He ducked into a narrow alley that he only barely squeezed into that flared out and opened up again into a dead end. He hid himself against the wall, and pulled everything off as fast as he could, throwing it into a pile in a corner. He pulled the extra change of clothes he had in the knapsack out and put them on quickly, pulling a small can of accelerant out of the knapsack. He threw the knapsack on top of the pile, and dumped the accelerant on the pile before throwing the can itself onto the pile. He pulled his lighter he got from Tai out of his pocket, tore a piece of fabric off the shirt in the pile and lit the fabric on fire with the lighter. He dropped the flaming fabric onto the pile, which promptly caught on fire.

Moments later, he stepped out of the alley, wearing a dark orange shirt, and a dark blue denim pair of pants. His pistols were holstered under his shirt once again, tucked away well enough that he was able to walk past a group of police officers without an odd look in his direction. He weaved through the streets, taking his time walking through the city, returning to the inn barely an hour before dark. Though the inn was full with the usual crowd of people, the person in the brown cloak was noticeably absent. Alexander ate a quick dinner before going up to his room.

He opened the door slowly before pausing, realizing he hadn't had to unlock the door. He pulled a pistol from its holster, and raised it, walking into his room slowly, quietly closing the door behind him. A shadowy figure across the room drew his attention, and he locked the door.

"Who are you?" He asked, quietly enough not to alert anyone outside the room, but loud enough that the figure heard him. However, they made no motion to react, and Alexander tried to grab their attention again.

"Why were you following me around the city?" He asked, and the figure turned around, their eyes seemingly on fire in shapes reminiscent of butterfly wings.

"Some greeting for a sister in all but blood." The person lowered their hood slowly, the fire around their eyes dying out as Alexander turned the light on, revealing Amber, smiling widely. She had let her hair grow out, and it now fell past her shoulders. A new leaf shaped clasp near her left shoulder held her cloak around her shoulders. She had traded out her silver bracer for a gold one to match her heeled boots that pushed her up to just below Alexander's eye level. Her skin had darkened a shade from extended exposure to the sun, and had picked up a golden pauldron on her right shoulder, and gold bracelets on her right wrist.

"Amber…" He trailed off, and in an instant, found himself pulled into a hug, his pistol clattering to the floor as he hugged her back.

"It's so good to see you." He said, before pulling back, a worried look on his face. She looked back at him, confused.

"But, shouldn't you be, I don't know, in hiding? Travelling Remnant so as to constantly keep the people hunting you one step behind?" She smiled.

"That's the beauty of this. Our meeting is purely happenstance. In that I happened to be the one to tell Ozpin that Verbal Kint was in the city." He laughed and stepped back, leaning against the desk while she sat down cross legged on his bed.

"How long are you in town?" He asked, and she frowned slightly.

"I leave Oasis early tomorrow morning. I was pushing it, staying this long, and I really should be going." He nodded in understanding, and, after a few minutes of catching up, a silence fell upon the room, though it was far from awkward or uncomfortable. That is, until Alexander's Scroll started beeping. He pulled it from his pocket, and saw that the number was blocked. He furrowed his eyebrows in concern before he picked up the phone call. He waited quietly for a moment until the voice on the other end spoke in a level, aristocratic voice.

"Credit where credit is due, Specialist, you are very good at what you do. If I didn't know that you killed my men, I would be thoroughly baffled. A featureless assassin just shows up from nowhere and eliminates six men in less than three minutes before disappearing into the city. Well done." Alexander's eyebrows drew even closer together in confusion before his expression cleared.

"Dr. Arthur Watts. This is unexpected." He replied, and he could practically hear the amusement from the other man.

"In the flesh, so to speak. I thought you earned this call. Hopefully, in the coming years, you will continue to prove to be as adept an opponent as I believe you to be. Please live up to my expectations, I'm not particularly fond of failure. When next we meet, Commander." The line cut out, and Alexander started frantically dialing numbers while Amber sat on his bed, still confused.

"Alexander, what's going on?" She said, and he spoke to both her, Ozpin, and Ironwood, who had just answered his call.

"Arthur Watts just called me. His number was blocked." He spoke excitedly, a smile wide across his face.

"I'm sorry, I'm not sure why either of those statements make you happy." Amber looked as confused as Ozpin and Ironwood felt.

"To call with a blocked number, you have to be hardwired into a CCT tower to hack it and change your number from a public number to a blocked one. Even then, the CCT only blocks local numbers, and resets blocked numbers every day, about an hour ago here in Vacuo. So, unless Arthur Watts' number was on the list of military numbers last month, he's here in Oasis. Ozpin, Ironwood, I'm taking Amber, and we're going to the CCT tower to track Arthur Watts." He said, practically fist pumping as the two leaders gave their assent. He grabbed Amber, picking up his pistol, and ran out the door of his room. When they were outside the inn, Amber shot him up into the air on a gust of wind, following him herself.

They sprinted across the roofs of the city, Amber propelling them every few buildings with a gust of wind to clear larger gaps. In no time, they had reached the CCT tower. Alexander opened a door to a maintenance room just inside the door, and pulled a metal panel off the wall, revealing a mess of wires and circuit breakers. Alexander pulled some wires out, until he found some wires that had been cut. He pulled a charging cord out of his pocket, and, with his knife, cut the charging plug off from the rest of the cord. Stripping the charging cord with his knife as well, he separated the three wires inside the charging cord, and carefully twisted them together with the cut wires from the maintenance panel.

His Scroll screen lit up, but instead of the normal screen, a wall of text started rolling across it. He tapped a few words as they flew across the screen, and it turned into a blank green screen, until it showed a list with only one name, Dr. John D Wattson, and a phone number next to it. Next to the Scroll number, the screen read 'BLOCKED' in red letters. Alexander unblocked the number, and memorized the number as quickly as he could.

Alexander pulled his Scroll off the charging cord, which he separated from the control panel. Stuffing wires back into the wall absentmindedly, he typed a phone number into a tracking program that Dr. Polendina had designed to help him in an occasion such as this. A red arrow pointed off to the east. The distance above the arrow read just over one kilometer, so Alexander and Amber sprinted out of the CCT tower as fast as they could.

Their run took across the Shade academy campus, which was a little over a dozen buildings all arranged in a ring around a park of sorts. Alexander and Amber sprinted through and around several groups of students as they ran across campus, and were yelled at by a few teachers. Once they got off Shade campus, Amber propelled them back to the rooftops, and they were back to their sprint. Unfortunately, Arthur Watts stayed the same distance away from them no matter how fast they ran. That is, until they neared the docks, when they started closing in. The pair jumped down into the dockyard and shot down the dock itself, until vearing off to the right when they saw a boat starting to depart. Alexander's Scroll pointed right at the boat, and the pair stopped themselves when they reached the edge of the dock, the boat already too far out in the waters for them to stop. Right then, Alexander's Scroll rang again, and he picked up as a man with black hair and a matching manicured mustache stepped into view on the boat.

He wore a grey suit, lined with yellow, though not much else could be seen from that distance. Alexander picked up the call, and held the phone to his ear, scowling.

"Well done, Commander, I was sure you would take longer. You and that crow of Ozpin's are becoming quite the thorns in my Queen's side. We'll be watching you. And tell your friend there we're watching her, too." The call cut off, and Alexander slowly lowered his Scroll, staring off over the water in shock. Amber waved her hand in front of his face a few times until he shook his head and looked at her with a sad look that she returned.

"I'll try to see you as soon as I can. If I can't do that, I'll at least send Ozpin some audio files for you to listen to." She said. He looked conflicted for a few seconds before reaching out and embracing her.

"Be careful." He whispered, and she backed away with a sad smile.

"I always am, little brother." She whispered back, making him smile too before she pulled her hood up and running off into the night. Alexander stood quietly on the docks for a few seconds before running his fingers through his hair with a sigh as he walked back towards the city.

…

 **Three Years and Two Months before the Battle of Beacon**

The sky was cloudy, full of dark purple rain clouds that threatened to release the water they held at any moment. Winter spared a moment to look up at the sky as she sat with her mother, watching Weiss train against an expert swordsman, who put Weiss on her back on the mat bought after bought, though Weiss was lasting much longer than she had even one month ago. Thankfully, she took after her grandfather in more ways than just her singing voice.

A deep rumbling came from outside, and Winter looked outside again, expecting to see rain slamming against the windows any second. Instead, she saw someone step out of a bullhead, wearing a black shirt over a white t shirt, and under a white raincoat with a hood that was pulled up. Their pants were tan, and they wore black combat boots that sunk slightly in the grass of the backyard. Winter sprinted to the backdoor, carrying her sabre, her sister, mother, and her sister's teacher following her. Her heels clicked loudly against the tile of the hallway.

She threw the door to the backdoor open, leveling her sabre at the person, her sister and her teacher doing the same, their mother watching from behind them, arms crossed. The figure slowly approached them, but stopped about ten feet from her.

"Who are you, what are you doing here?" She asked, and the person reached up and pulled their hood down. Alexander, with longer hair that was swept back from his forehead, and a short beard smiled at them.

"Some welcome. Heard Jacques was out of town, figured I drop by." He said, and started walking towards them again. Winter slowly lowered her scimitar, a smile growing on her face as he got closer. He reached out, one hand resting on the back of her neck, the other on her lower back as he pulled her in for a kiss, her arms snaking around his neck before she realized she had done it. After what felt like an eternity that she never wanted to end, they broke apart with identical smiles.

"I'm so glad you're back." She whispered, and he rested his forehead against hers.

"Me too. I'll have to talk to Ironwood. Make him stop sending me on consecutive missions." He replied, and she laughed. They pulled apart, though Alexander's hand stayed on her lower back. Weiss looked at him, her eyebrow quirked questioningly, perfectly mirroring the look her mother had on her face. Weiss teacher, meanwhile, just looked confused. He was a man of average height that carried a rapier like Weiss. He had long unruly dark brown hair, and brown eyes. He had a thin mustache that was clearly well groomed, and his eyeline just about reached Alexander's, though he was perhaps half an inch shorter. Alexander extended a hand to the man that he shook a bit cautiously.

"Pleasure to meet you, I'm Commander Alexander Wallace." He said, and the swordsman didn't visibly respond with more than a slight raise of his eyebrows.

"Pleasure is mine, Commander, my name is D'artagnan." Alexander pursed his lips, thinking for a moment when he released D'artagnan's hand.

"You graduated twelve years ago from Mistral's Haven Academy, yes?" He asked, and the swordsman nodded. Alexander's eyes narrowed instantly.

"How close would you say you were to the headmaster there?" D'artagnan smiled almost imperceptibly.

"No better or worse than most other students. A few conversations here and there." Alexander inclined his head slightly, and a tense silence fell, the two men simply staring at each other, one suspicious, the other amused.

"Why don't we head back inside?" Anna said, and the others nodded, following her back into the large practice room that Weiss and D'artagnan had been practicing in minutes earlier. A large room, one wall covered by windows that gave an expansive view of the backyard. The room had marble floors, though there was a dedicated sparring ring that D'artagnan and Weiss stepped into. Alexander, Winter, and Anna sat down at a table that was near one wall, and while Winter and Anna started to talk together, Alexander's eyes stayed fixed on the sparring ring, watching D'artagnan spar against Weiss.

His eyes narrowed slightly, his irises glowing slightly as he watched the swordsman critique Weiss' technique and timing as the two fought. Weiss used a rapier with a multi-chambered barrel just above the grip of the sword that served as both a hilt, and a device to augment her sword's abilities with dust. The dust was activated using a small trigger just below the chambers. D'artagnan used a rapier that was thicker than Weiss' by a quarter of an inch on both edges. The hilt looked to be more decorative than anything else, as it was thin, and looked quite flimsy, little more than two straight pieces of metal that extended from the grip, and oblong circles on either side of the blade.

His sword, however, looked weathered, clearly used, though remarkably well cared for. Small nicks on the blade and hilt were the only indications that it had seen combat. He fought quickly and intelligently, content to let Weiss attack him all day long, parrying her thrusts and slashes easily, almost lazily. Alexander looked closer, and realized that in his hilt, just under his finger, was what looked like a trigger. Weiss continued to attack until she was sweating and breathing heavily, when a glyph spiraled to life under her feet and D'artagnan held a hand up.

She stopped immediately, looking down at her feet and stamped her foot angrily, backing up as the glyph disappeared. D'artagnan had walked over, and was talking to Weiss quietly for a few moments before he backed up, walking to the middle of the sparring ring while Weiss stepped off to get a drink of water from her mother, who was holding a water bottle. D'artagnan and Alexander locked eyes, and the Specialist stood up, shedding his raincoat. Winter's hand on his shoulder stopped him briefly before he looked back at her, his suspicious look in his eyes immediately making her drop her hand to her side with a sigh. Weiss and Anna watched, a bit confused, and slightly concerned as Alexander stalked up to the sparring ring, and stepped in.

"D'artagnan, you lied about going to Haven Academy. Why?" He asked, and D'artagnan simply smiled at him.

"I see you figured me out. I'll have you know I will not be interrogated, Commander. Should you decide to take me in, it will be by force. So, if you wish to fight, I assume you have weapons on you?" D'artagnan said, retreating to the opposite side of the ring. Alexander eyed him for a few seconds before nodding and drawing his pistols from his shoulder holsters. He leveled them at the swordsman, waiting for D'artagnan to protest, but he didn't, simply standing there quietly.

Alexander pulled the triggers on his pistols, forcing D'artagnan to roll to the side, spinning his sword in his hand as he did so, the rounds impacting a shield around the sparring ring. A second later, D'artagnan held a crossbow, and loosed a bolt at Alexander, expecting the Specialist to dodge. Instead, Alexander dashed forward, spinning his pistols into escrima sticks, and leaning to the side, letting the bolt slam into his aura, the bolt shattering.

Alexander swung with one hand, knocking D'artagnan's crossbow towards the ceiling as it loosed another bolt that would crash against the shield around the ring. Alexander swung his other escrima stick, expecting to hear it crack against D'artagnan's aura, but the swordsman had leaped over him, pushing off his shoulders. Alexander straightened up and turned around, immediately deflecting a straight thrust toward the ground with one escrima stick, the other swinging towards the man's shoulder, though the swordsman used the thrust's momentum to duck into a roll that brought him behind Alexander once more.

A slash grated angrily against Alexander's aura as he turned around before D'artagnan could finish the motion, and an escrima stick cracked against his temple, forcing him to bend into the knee Alexander brought up into his face, forcing him back up. He deflected another few powerful escrima stick swipes with his rapier, and saw his rapier start to glow. He kicked Alexander in the chest, forcing the Specialist back, and spun his rapier, changing it to a crossbow again, the arrow of which glowed a sickly green.

He fired the bolt at Alexander with a smirk, expecting it to hit him and explode. However, Alexander's eyes, for what seemed like barely a millisecond, flashed a brilliant blue, his aura arcing visibly across his body. He leaned to the side, and felt the aura pulsing off the bolt as it passed him, before he returned to his original position, and dashing at D'artagnan. The swordsman was caught so off guard that when Alexander struck him across the face the first time, he almost didn't notice it. He tried to raise the crossbow to do, something, anything, but Alexander knocked it out of his hands before he hit the swordsman several more times across the torso and about the head, finally shattering D'artagnan's aura. He dropped to the ground, where Alexander kicked him in the temple, his head lolling as his eyes closed.

Alexander stood over D'artagnan, breathing heavily, his eyes held tightly shut, his pistols holstered again as he clenched and unclenched his hands, pain wracking his eyes and extremities. He slowly backed away from the swordsman's unconscious body, barely registering when Winter walked up behind him, resting her hand on his shoulder. After a little while, he opened his eyes and stared at D'artagnan angrily as the man roused himself and slowly got himself into a sitting position.

"Are you okay?" Winter whispered, and he nodded slowly after a few moments.

"I dunno. We'll see. He did just try to kill me." Alexander whispered back.

"You would have been fine. You have enough aura to survive that if you had been hit by it." She said, and he shook his head.

"He didn't know that. Besides, I remembered why I was suspicious of him. His name is Ensiculus, no last name. He ran a gang in Mistral a long time ago, killed a lot of innocent people, caused a lot of collateral damage. Whole gang disappeared about five years back, most dead, but one was still missing. Their leader." Alexander walked over and kicked the crossbow out of the sparring ring to clatter against the marble floor.

"Why do you know so much about him?" Winter asked, and Alexander looked even madder than before.

"His gang was one of the reasons that two young girls in Patch don't have a mother anymore, and the reason that they very nearly lost an uncle as well. They, a horde of Grimm, and a mess of other bandits, mercenaries, and other assorted shit, killed a mother, and almost got Qrow as well." He replied, stalking over to the former mercenary, grabbing the front of the man's shirt, and dragging him along behind him as he walked out of the sparring ring. Anna and Weiss stared at him in surprise, having not heard the conversation, only seen him beat a man most of the way to death.

"Where are you going?" Weiss asked, her voice timid and hesitant, her eyes wide. He looked over at her, his expression softening momentarily.

"Unfortunately, Mr. D'artagnan is not who we thought he was. So, I need to make a few calls and get a bullhead to come pick him up so he can be… dealt with." He spoke cautiously as he looked over at Winter, who nodded, walking over to her sister as Alexander dragged D'artagnan out of the room. Winter held Weiss's gaze, making sure it was on her as a bullhead slowly descended into their backyard for the second time.

"Is he going to… kill D'artagnan?" Weiss asked, and Anna's gaze fell to her lap, while Winter sighed quietly.

"I'm not legally supposed to tell you this, because I'm not supposed to know it myself, so what I say next, you cannot repeat to anyone, ever, without Alexander's express permission, okay?" She said, holding Weiss's gaze until she nodded.

"Alexander works for Atlas's Intelligence division. The Intelligence division is split into two departments, each with a primary responsibility. One department is responsible for gathering and relaying valuable intelligence to the military about potential threats and plots, while the other is responsible for assessing and eliminating those threats. Typically the operatives in the Intelligence division only work in one of these departments, though Specialists are often used as bridges between the departments, working for both at the same time." Weiss looked interested, though still shocked. Her natural curiosity and desire for knowledge had slowly overridden her surprise.

"So, while he is out in the field, Alexander gathers intelligence on a number of groups. A militant militia in the wastes of Vacuo, the White Fang, crime rings in Mistral, and Grimm activity all over the world. Once he has the intel he needs, he analyzes the immediacy of the threat, and, if need be, alerts local authorities. If that is not possible, or if the authorities have had no luck in the past with dealing with his target, he eliminates them himself, if he has been ordered to. In short, Alexander does terrible things to terrible people to keep them from doing worse things to innocent citizens, and asks for and receives no recognition for it." Winter watched over her sister's head through the rain that was lashing against the windows, as the doors to the bullhead opened and Alexander walked D'artagnan onto the bullhead. Alexander pocketed the Scroll in his hand and pulled his pistol out.

"Hey, Weiss, look at me, okay?" Weiss and Winter locked eyes, and Winter started talking again to keep her sister's focus.

"Just remember, Weiss, Alexander is a good man, and you can always trust him. If you ever get in trouble, or just need someone to talk to, and you can't reach mother or I, call him, and he will help in any way he can." Winter saw D'artagnan crumple to the deck of the bullhead as a rumble of thunder sounded, muffling the retort of Alexander's pistol. Alexander closed the door of the bullhead and patted the side before walking away, the bullhead flying off into the stormy sky. He walked back in after a moment, hair plastered against his head, water streaming down his face, his shirt drenched. He stopped next to Winter's chair.

"Very sorry about all that." He smiled, but it seemed painful. Winter looked at him sympathetically. She stood up and leaned in close.

"Did you call Qrow?" She whispered, and he nodded.

"And his friend, Tai." She looked down sadly, and grabbed his hand, turning it over and lightly stroking the calluses on his palm.

"Are you okay?" She asked, and he sighed.

"Reminded of some things I didn't want to think of right now." She nodded in understanding as he pulled back slightly to talk to Weiss and Anna.

"Ironwood said that he would find a replacement teacher for you, Weiss. He should be here by noon tomorrow." Weiss looked a bit surprised, but thanked him nonetheless.

"Well, I think I should get going. It was lovely to see you two. Winter, will you be getting a ride back with me?" He looked at her and after a moment of thought, she nodded. He grabbed his raincoat, handing it to Winter, who looked about to protest, but he just raised a hand.

"I'm already soaking wet. You actually need it." He said, and she took his raincoat with a smile. He looked at her for a moment, a smile spreading across his face as she said goodbye to her mother and sister before the two walked out. As they walked, Winter's hand reached out and grasped his own, widening his smile.

"Are you and Ironwood still forcing that two month leave on me?" He asked, and sighed reluctantly when she nodded.

…

 **Three Years before the Battle of Beacon**

Alexander groaned as he woke up, pawing blindly at the table next to his bed, where his Scroll was ringing. He finally picked it up, and answered the call.

"What could you possibly want at five in the morning?" He said, blearily, as he stood up from his bed in just his underwear, walking from the bedroom of his apartment to the living room to the kitchen. As he walked, Ironwood started talking on the other end of the phone call.

"End of your leave. Starting today, you're back on active duty." That woke Alexander up immediately as he started the coffee maker.

"Come in by 0900. I have a mission for you." Alexander leaned against the counter as he listened, gasping softly when he felt someone wrap their arms around his stomach. He turned with a smile to see Winter, her hair out of its bun and wearing one of his shirts, rest her forehead against his collar with a sleepy smile.

"Understood sir, is there anything I else I need to know?" Alexander asked, holding a finger to his lips when Winter looked up at him in shock. She smiled at him, waiting patiently.

"Could you get Miss Schnee on you way over? Call a bullhead for yourselves once you get her." Ironwood said, and Alexander smiled.

"Yeah, I'll make sure Miss Schnee gets there. I'll see you at 0900, General."

…

 **A/N: Hey guys, hope you like the chapter, I had fun writing it. Thanks for reading, and feedback is welcome at all times. And, as always, thanks to Bulba Fett for betaing. See you next time! PEACE!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: We do not own RWBY in any way. This is a fan written story, obviously, and all rights belong to Rooster Teeth Productions. Please support the official release.**

…

Ch 8: Fortitude

…

"Акула, которая не плавает - тонет"

" _The shark that does not swim - drowns."_

 _Arrow_ , Season 5 Episode 1

"I'm a wreck, I'm out of time

I barely made it out alive

I'm not bent, I'm not cracked

I'm just broken"

 _Misery_

-Blink-182

…

 **Two Years and Six Months before the Battle of Beacon**

Alexander was walking slowly down the halls of Beacon, a scowl on his face. His hair was a bit longer than normal, and his short beard was a bit unruly. Next to him walked Qrow, a similar look of displeasure on his face.

They had just spent the last several months travelling around Remnant, and hadn't been able to learn anything of any real merit, though not for lack of trying. They hadn't found anything on the mysterious 'Queen', Arthur Watts, or anyone else they might be associated with. It seemed that the group had decided to take some time to fall off the radar.

It was frustrating for the two, to be in the dark. They had ran down every lead they could, only to get nowhere in almost three months of looking. Ozpin had just talked with them in his office, and though he was not disappointed, he was as aggravated with this lack of information as the other two.

Alexander felt his Scroll buzz in his pocket, and he pulled it out to see that it was Blake calling him with another tip on the White Fang's activities. He answered the call with a sigh that drew Qrow's attention.

"Hey, Blake, what's up?" He asked.

"I know this is short notice, but I need your help." She spoke quietly, like she was around people and she didn't want them to hear her.

"Adam and the White Fang are going to attack a shipment of weapon components that is bound for Signal Academy on Patch. There's a Hunter guarding the shipment, but they won't be enough. The White Fang is going to try to take the shipment at the docks in Vale." Alexander looked at Qrow, who had heard Blake, and had started typing out a message for Ozpin immediately.

"I'll do what I can, Blake." Alexander hung up right as Qrow sent the message.

"Let's go. No time to waste." Qrow said, and the two sprinted down the hallways of Beacon, the eyes of students watching them quizzically.

…

At the docks, Uranus Olympia was running through the shipping containers on the deck of the ship he was on. He had heard the White Fang boarding the ship and had initially hidden until he could strike. Unfortunately, he had underestimated how many of the White Fang there was, and though he was able to eliminate almost a dozen of them, a dozen still remained, including a red haired faunus in an all black outfit and red symbols on his mask carrying a sword, and a much larger, burlier faunus, with a full face mask, and carrying a chainsaw of sorts. Getting in the skirmish with the White Fang had cost him the majority of his aura, and so he was breathing a bit heavily.

As he ran through the maze of shipping containers, he occasionally ran into a member of the White Fang, who he quickly dispatched without losing speed, blood squirting onto the shipping containers around them as they fell into several pieces. Finally, he reached the back of the ship, and a shipping container destined for Signal Academy. He opened the door and closed it as well as he could behind him. Inside were, along each side, two rows of crates stacked three crates high. Inside were mostly weapon parts, but there were also student weapons that he had fixed while in Vale for some students at Signal who didn't have the mechanical expertise yet that was needed to fix their weapons themselves.

Uranus reached the back of the shipping container, spinning his sickle so that it was in sniper form. He leveled his rifle at the door of the shipping container, his head leaning slightly to the side so he could look down his scope briefly before he straightened up. His finger flexed against the trigger guard as he waited, his breathing measured and slow.

His patience was rewarded in a way a minute later as he heard muffled voices and footsteps from outside the container. He pulled the bolt on his rifle to make sure that a round was chambered, before sliding it back into place, his palm resting comfortably on the pistol grip, his index finger barely touching the trigger. The door started to swing open, and he pulled the trigger, the massive round easily punching through the metal of the doors right at the seam, throwing both doors open wide. He saw that one faunus had been annihilated by his first shot, and worked the bolt quickly, pulling the trigger as quickly as he could.

He continued to fire, decimating White Fang members as they tried to storm the shipping container, until his rifle clicked quietly, signalling the end of his magazine. He spun his rifle back into a sickle, and dashed forward into the open, expecting the White Fang to be running low on members, though it seemed that, despite his best efforts, killing two dozen more of them still left them with another dozen or so, not including the two leaders, who decided to join the fight, dropping from above on either side of him.

Uranus lunged at the man in black, who pulled a trigger on the sheath of his katana, causing his weapon to shoot out at Uranus's head, hilt first. He had to stop and raise the hilt of his sickle to catch the impact that still caused him to stumble. Uranus had to duck to dodge a chainsaw trying to behead him from behind, and spun to face the burly faunus, swinging his sickle as much as he could in the enclosed space between the shipping containers.

A katana slicing along his shoulder blades caused him to arch his back in pain, only for his pain to disappear a moment later. He slowly looked down to see a blood red blade sprouting from his chest, only for it to disappear barely seconds later. He felt the world start to spin, and something warm start sliding down his chest and back as everything seemed to come to a near stop. He tightened his grip on his sickle, and spun, slashing wildly, cutting through the White Fang leader's shirt, leaving a cut from right shoulder to left hip that likely wouldn't be a fatal wound.

Uranus's life flashed before his eyes as the cut on the faunus started to well up with blood. His knees gave out, and he fell slowly. As his knees hit the deck of the ship, he saw the White Fang file into the storage containers, looking this way and that. He tried to reach for his sickle, to yell for them to stop, to do anything, anything at all. But he was just so tired, so so tired. By the time his chest hit the deck of the ship, he felt like an eternity had passed, when realistically, barely moments had. He didn't hear the thud he made as his chest then his head hit the deck, he didn't feel the pain that should have accompanied the impact of his head on the metal. Darkness filled his vision, and he had passed by the time the White Fang started filing past him with their stolen goods.

…

Alexander's pained yell caused seagulls around the dock to scatter into the air as he fell to his knees next to Uranus's body. Surrounded by a plethora of White Fang bodies, with more scattered across the ship. The shipping container next to them was noticeably empty but for a few boxes that held the last weapons that Uranus had worked on in his life. Qrow walked up behind Alexander, a hand over his mouth and nose to keep the overpowering stench of blood out as he squatted down next to the Specialist, and rested a hand on his shoulder that Alexander didn't seem to react to.

"Hey, kid, sorry to do this to you, but we have to go. The police will be here in a little bit to clean this place up and take a body count, and we can't be getting in the way of that." He said, and Alexander didn't respond for a long time before nodding and standing up. Alexander's eyes were welling with tears as he leaned down and picked up Uranus's sickle from the deck of the ship and slung it across his back. Qrow watched him carefully, his eyes filled with sadness and understanding. The Specialist sighed heavily before he turned and started walking off.

"Yeah, alright. Let's go."

…

Qrow watched from across the street as Alexander walked up to a small house on the outskirts of the city of Vale. It was a cozy house, painted a welcoming pale blue with a white door. The neighborhood it was in, too, looked nice, and the members of said neighborhood that were outside that late afternoon turned to look at the man wearing an all black dress uniform walk down the paved walkway to the white door, standing out in extreme contrast.

It seemed that the neighbors had either heard the news, or could tell what was going to happen, as many watched sympathetically, some with tears welling up in their eyes. The door to the house opened to reveal a short woman, her light blonde hair cut to just below her shoulders, and her eye line barely reaching Alexander's chest. She looked up in surprise, a smile on her face as she gazed at the man struggling to find the words he wanted to say.

A few moments later, she embraced him, her face buried in his chest, and her shoulders heaving as she cried. Alexander held her for a few moments, and helped her sit down on the front porch when she couldn't find the strength to stand, though his arm stayed around her shoulders as she continued to cry into his jacket. Neighbors started to walk over after thirty minutes or so, at which point Alexander stood up slowly, tears streaming down his face. He walked back over to Qrow, his lips pursed as he struggled to control his emotions. A deep breath and a nod later, and he and Qrow were on their way back towards Beacon.

…

Alexander stood in his funeral dress, Winter to his left in a similar outfit, though Winter wasn't wearing the sunglasses that Alexander was. They were some of the first to the ceremony, second only to Uranus's mother, who was seated in the center of the first row of chairs, while Alexander and Winter stood behind the chairs. As people started to arrive, Alexander saw a few faces he recognized, and still more he didn't. Tai Xiao-Long had shown up with his daughters, the oldest of whom Uranus had helped design and build her weapons, or so Qrow had told him. Other instructors from Signal had shown up as well, though Alexander recognized them only by reputation. Neighbors and family friends also showed up, but there were two faces Alexander was looking for most of all.

Finally, barely fifteen minutes before the funeral, someone walked up next to Alexander, casting a shadow on him. Alexander turned and saw a bald Quentin standing next to him with a sad smile on his face, his zanbato on his back, and wearing all black. Quentin reached out for a handshake, but was surprised when Alexander pulled him in for a hug, though he returned it with no reluctance. They separated after a few seconds, and Alexander introduced Quentin to Winter, whose hand he shook with a smile before retaking his place next to Alexander, his face stony. Not long after that, Qrow joined their little standing wall, taking a place on the other side of Quentin.

About five minutes before the funeral, someone in a black cloak tapped Alexander on his right shoulder. Without even looking, he shifted over so that they could stand in between him and Quentin, who didn't even bat an eye at Amber's arrival, merely smiling. All in all, the five of them, the only ones standing at the funeral, drew the attention of most of the other attendees, many sending confused looks back at them, though Uranus' mother was smiling ever so slightly.

Finally, the funeral began, with Uranus' mother walking to a podium next to the open grave and casket suspended above it. She cleared her throat and dabbed at her eyes before she spoke, and when she did, it was with a voice laced with sadness.

"Some of you know me, others do not. I am Terra Olympia, and I am Uranus' mother." She looked out at the attendees, her eyes finally coming to rest on the remnants of team AQUA standing in the back.

"My son has not had much in the way of family, through no fault of his own. I have loved him as much as I could, but sometimes I myself was not enough, and my heart is warmed by the knowledge that he had so many people who cared for him, many of whom he considered family, to support him when I could not. I can never thank you enough for being a part of my son's life, and I know that wherever he is, he will love you forever." She swallowed a knot in her throat before she moved to sit back down. Those attending all stood up and grabbed a flower from vases next to the grave and threw them onto the casket one by one until Quentin, Alexander, and Amber were the only ones to not have.

Alexander undid one of the pins on his lapels that marked him as a Specialist just as Amber removed her broach, and Quentin removed a pin shaped like a five rings linked together in a pentagon. Alexander walked up first, poking his pin into the hard wood of the casket, before slamming the bottom of his fist onto it to hammer it in. Amber followed his example moments later when she walked up beside him, as did Quentin a few seconds after her. They stood quietly in front of the casket for a minute or so before filing off back to where they had been standing, the eyes of the others following them as they walked.

…

Two hours or so later, Quentin and Alexander sat in a booth at a bar across from one another, having spent the better part of half an hour reminiscing about their time at Beacon, and telling stories about their respective careers. A comfortable silence settled on them, and Alexander watched Quentin carefully, waiting for the inquiry he knew would come.

"You knew she didn't really die." He said, and Alexander nodded, even though it wasn't really a question.

"I'm sorry I kept that from all of you." Quentin waved his hand dismissively.

"It's fine. I always suspected that there was something that she couldn't tell us. It's just a bit disheartening to have it confirmed." Alexander nodded in understanding, and opened his mouth to say something before shutting it, thinking better of it.

"And before you ask, I don't want to know about it. Anything that makes one of my friends fake her own death, and drags my other friend halfway across the planet at a moment's notice is not something I want to be involved in." Alexander was quiet for a long moment before nodding again.

"Then I will not involve you if I can avoid it." Alexander said, and Quentin smiled appreciatively at him.

"Thank you for that. I very much enjoy the work I am doing in Mistral, and I do not intend to leave it anytime soon." Alexander held a hand out to Quentin that the other man shook without hesitation.

"Remember, if you need any help, give me a call." Alexander said, and Quentin smiled.

"Same to you, friend, same to you."

…

 **Two Years and One Month before the Battle of Beacon**

Alexander stood in front of a large metal door, dressed in a grey blazer, slacks, black shoes, and a white button up shirt. He knocked on the door, and smiled at the eyes that glared at him through the slit that opened up in the door.

"Hey there, I was told this was the place to make a deal." He said, the setting Mistralian sun bathing half his face in eery shadows. The eyes continued to glare at him, before glancing at the briefcase at his feet.

"No deals today. Boss isn't here." The grating sound of metal sliding against metal made the hair on the back of Alexander's neck stand on end as the eyes disappeared. He sighed, reaching down to pick the briefcase up, and backing up about ten meters, grumbling as he did so. When he stopped, he turned and waited a few seconds, eyeing the door and the explosives around it he had place before knocking. Several blocks of plastic explosive were placed around the door, with det cord connecting them all.

"Bullshit their boss isn't in. Fucking know she is. Spent the last fucking month finding her. Watched her walk through the door myself. Making me do this the hard way. I don't like the hard way. Hard way involves paying for Lou's date night." He grumbled angrily, before pulling a detonator out of his jacket pocket and pressing the button. There was a brief delay before the det cord around the door ignited, exploding itself as it activated the plastic explosive he had placed around the door earlier. The door, and a chunk of the wall, fell into the warehouse it was connected to with a loud crash.

Alexander pulled a gas mask out of his jacket, pulling it on as he walked towards the hole in the wall, opening the briefcase as he did to reveal several tear gas grenades, the pins having been pulled off by the opening of the briefcase. He threw the briefcase into the billowing dust that had yet to settle, and started to hear people coughing and yelling after about twenty seconds of waiting. He drew his pistols from under his jacket as he walked toward the opening in the warehouse, watching the shadows in the smoke.

They started moving toward the opening, and he pulled the triggers of his pistols. Six shadows dropped to the ground in seconds, and the only person still standing was limping. Alexander pressed a button on the side of his gas mask as he entered the building, and his vision was filled with blue except for the six rapidly bluing bodies on the floor, and the red body limping towards the back door. Alexander followed the only woman inside the warehouse as she picked her way through the smoke until she threw open a door that Alexander didn't know was there. He followed her out into the alley, the secret door shutting behind him as she leaned against the side of the building, tears streaming down her cheeks, coughing violently, mucus dripping down from her nose to her mouth that she kept wiping away. She sneezed violently, and fell into another coughing fit as Alexander approached her, holstering his pistols and taking off his gas mask.

She was a thin woman, who normally carried herself with a lithe grace carefully practiced over almost a decade in the arms trade. Her deep red hair was pulled back into a single braid that hung just below her shoulder blades. Dark green eyes watered from the tear gas, and she blinked furiously to try to clear them. She was wearing a black pantsuit with black heels that, under normal circumstances, would have made her look rather intimidating.

"Man I love these." He tucked the mask inside his coat as she looked at him in fear. He approached her, and she tried to scramble away, but he just followed her with an exasperated look on his face.

"Where would you run to? Besides, I clearly don't want you dead." She seemed to relax as he said that, and he offered a hand to her, pulling her to her feet.

"So -cough- what _do_ you -cough- want?" She was slowly recovering from the tear gas, respiratorily at the least, though she had to keep blinking to clear her eyes of the tears, and wiping her nose to keep the mucus from dripping into her mouth.

"You are sending a shipment of weapons to the White Fang next month. You have already been paid but the Atlesian Military is willing to pay you more to make sure the weapons never reach the White Fang, and make sure no other arms dealers will sell to them either. After that, you are going to retire from the arms business entirely." He said, and she stood coughing for a few moments before glaring at him.

"I don't have much of a choice in the matter, do I?" Alexander smiled, shrugging.

"There is always a choice. One lets you keep your 'professional integrity' at the cost of a bullet through your chest, and I find someone else to take your place, and the other, you get a fat paycheck, a new identity, and the ability to move to Atlas without the fear of any branch of the government ever coming after you, provided you don't engage in anything illegal again, and you give us the locations of all your weapons caches, which we will seize after you reach Atlas. Of course, that does come at the cost of a bunch of personal favors that people owe you." Alexander continued to smile at her as she glared until she relented, her shoulders slumping.

"Fine. I'll make sure that nobody in Mistral will ever sell the White Fang weapons again. But I expect a really nice apartment waiting for me when I get to Atlas, as well as everything else." Alexander thought for a few seconds before nodding.

"That is acceptable. You have a month to get your affairs in order, and follow through on your end of the deal, Miss Hammer. After that, I will come get you, and Fiona Hammer will cease to exist. Any questions?" She shook her head.

"Okay. I will see you in a month, Miss Hammer. Be sure to keep our deal, and we'd better actually find weapons at your caches." He walked off down the alley, pulling out his Scroll. He heard sirens off in the distance, slowly getting closer, and started dialing a number. His Scroll rang a few times before the other end picked up, a man by the name of Chief Lou Bruscoe.

"Hey, Lou, doing alright?" He asked with a smile, though Lou couldn't see it.

"Yeah, I'm doing fine, Alexander. Always good to hear from you. Need something?" His voice was deep and smooth, and he was a kind man who owed Alexander more than a few favors, though when Alexander tried to cash in one, Lou never seemed to actually count them.

"Sorry to do this to you, Lou, but you have a few squad cars heading towards an explosion in the warehouse district." Lou cut him off.

"Got it. Just sent out the signal to call them off. I'll have some guys go check it out tomorrow and rule it an accident. Some idiots messing with explosives and weapons they didn't understand. That work?" He asked, and Alexander smiled wider.

"You're the best, Lou. Call us even after this, alright?" Alexander said, already knowing Lou's response.

"No way. We'll call us even when we're actually even. Far as I'm concerned, this is just me helping a friend. Course, most of my friends only ask me to help them move, or for rides to the airport." Alexander laughed.

"Alright, fine. But take the missus out for dinner soon, and send me the bill, why don't you?" He heard Lou laugh.

"Alright, but don't be surprised if the bill is well over four hundred Lien. She's been wanting another date night for a while now."

"That sounds great, Lou. Hope you enjoy yourselves. I'll talk to you soon."

…

 **Two Years before the Battle of Beacon**

Fiona Hammer boarded a ship, wearing a dark brown cloak with the hood pulled up, and a backpack that was stuffed full. She walked through the ship until she reached her room, making a beeline for the bed and dropping her backpack next to it, not even looking at the small kitchenette in one corner, and desk and chair across the room from the bed. If she had looked around before lying down on the bed, she could have saved herself the embarrassing moment of shooting up out of her bed, shrieking, when she looked over to the desk after she had lain down. Alexander sat there, eating a yogurt from the fridge in the kitchenette, his feet, in his combat boots, resting on the desk, and leaning back in the chair. He swallowed the yogurt in his mouth and started talking to her, without even looking at her.

"Hello, Miss Hammer. Pleasure to see you again." He said, and an uncomfortable silence settled on the room.

"Wh-What are you doing here?" She asked, having trouble finding the words she wanted to say. He finished off his yogurt before he responded, turning to toss the empty yogurt cup towards the trash can across the room. It dropped into the trash can, and he smiled.

"Nailed it. I'm here to make sure you made it onto the ship. Don't worry, I'm not staying here during the trip. I have my own room. It's far nicer, although it doesn't have yogurt. I'll be escorting you to your new apartment, and, subsequently, your new life, when we reach Atlas. Oh, and before I forget, thanks for coming through on your end of the deal. Appreciate it. See ya!" He spun in the chair, the wheels clacking against the hardwood of the floor as he stood up and walked out the door, leaving behind a very bewildered arms dealer.

...

 **One Year and Ten Months before the Battle of Beacon**

A bullhead, populated by White Fang members, flew away from the burning wreck of a Schnee dust mine. They had found it mostly empty but for a few guards that had all fallen easily under the pre-dawn assault of the faunus. As the sun rose over the horizon, bathing the mine in even more shades of orange and red, accentuating the fire, none of the faunus looked back to see the bodies they had left on the ground slowly dissolve into grey ash, nor did they see the squad of four-wheelers speeding through the forest below and ahead of them.

The bullhead flew, without a care in the world, for almost thirty minutes until, from a cliff face ahead of them, a massive white glyph spun to life in the air, and what looked like a cloud of white swarmed out towards the bullhead. As the massive cloud approached, the White Fang members realized that it wasn't a cloud, but rather an incredibly dense cloud of small white Nevermores. They battered against the sides of the bullhead, jamming the engines, and covering the vision of the pilots, who, moments later, starting taking the bullhead into a descent. They landed shakily, the engines smoking and rattling dangerously.

The White Fang started to get off the bullhead as the cloud of Nevermores funneled up and away from them into the sky, where they dissipated into a fine white mist. As their vision cleared, the faunus were able to see around them, and saw, all around them, people dressed in white uniforms. One of them, with brown hair, and wearing sunglasses, took a few steps towards the faunus before he spoke, and the faunus felt his gaze burrowing into each and every one of them, despite the sunglasses he wore.

"You are all under arrest for treason, committing acts of terror, and a dozen counts of attempted murder, as well as the destruction of private property. If you surrender now, your trial will quick, painless, and private. If you choose to resist, you will be brought in forcefully before we try you publically, and use you as an example for what happens to terrorists." He turned away, letting the other military members close in on the White Fang members. As he stepped into the forest, he was joined by Winter at his side, causing him to smile.

"Thank you for the help." He said, quietly, and he felt her hand slip into his.

"Anytime. You know that."

...

 **One Year and Nine Months before the Battle of Beacon**

Alexander walked next to Winter, both walking in front of a platoon of Atlesian Knights. They were standing in the town center of Silesia, a small town on the outskirts of Atlas, far to the north, almost completely inhabited by former Hunters and Specialists. As a result of how far north they were, it was rare for them to be attacked by Grimm, as even Humanity's bane rarely dared venture into the startlingly harsh temperatures. However, there was a plethora of normal animals that inhabited the frozen landscape, and as such, Silesia was actually an incredibly profitable town that made most of its money by selling the hides and meat of the various strange and dangerous animals and fish that lived that far north.

The whole town was enclosed by a white dome that itself was surrounded by towering walls of packed ice and snow. The dome kept the worst of the weather out, and regulated the temperature inside to a more normal Atlesian temperature. Alexander and Winter were still wearing parkas, though they felt warm enough to unzip them partially, and pull their hoods down, much like the town's inhabitants.

The town didn't have a resident active Huntsman or Specialist, as even when they were attacked, those few guarding the wall were more than capable of dealing with the Grimm. So, it was a rare occasion where an active duty Specialist was called to the town by the mayor. A man wearing similar winter clothing to Alexander and Winter walked up to them. He looked to be a little bit older than Taiyang, likely by about a decade, and was a retired Specialist, as well as the current mayor of Silesia. He had light brown hair that was starting to thin, a thick, though not particularly long, beard, grey eyes, and a welcoming smile. He walked up and extended a hand to Winter that she shook before he turned to Alexander, and they shook hands as well.

"Hey there, guys, glad you could make it." He said, turning to address Alexander, who not so subtly motioned with his head to Winter. The mayor looked confused until Alexander sighed and decided to explain.

"Mayor Reddington, this is Knight-Commander Winter Schnee. She is my CO on this mission, and is also in charge of the Atlesian Knights behind us." He spoke quickly, and the mayor's face cleared of confusion, until he reddened in embarrassment. He looked at Winter, an apologetic look on his face.

"Sorry about that, Miss. Haven't seen a female Knight-Commander in many years, guess I just assumed. I do apologize." He looked at her hopefully, and her icy cold visage broke momentarily, a look of sympathy on her face briefly before it disappeared.

"It's fine. No harm done. We're all victims of habit every so often." She spoke crisply, and the mayor smiled in relief.

"Thank you. Now, if I may ask, what exactly is his job here. We don't often ask for help from the military, but they've only ever sent one Specialist along with the Knights." He said, looking and motioning towards Alexander. Winter looked at him expectantly, an eyebrow raised. He smiled at her innocently, though it broke after a few seconds and he looked at the mayor.

"Every three months, military intelligence sends someone up here to make sure everything is still going alright, and check on equipment that we have installed in the surrounding areas to monitor Grimm activity. Apparently it was my turn." He deadpanned, clearly exasperated. Mayor Reddington nodded in understanding.

"I remember that. Usually we had to go alone. At least you have company." Alexander smiled when he looked at Winter.

"Yeah, it could be worse."

"Anyway, Mayor Reddington, what exactly is wrong?" Winter asked, back to business.

"Right. Usually when we get Grimm up here, we only get one or two, not hard for whoever is on watch to deal with them, but sometimes, usually around this time of year, when we start getting less and less sun, we get something of a horde. One of the cameras a few kilometers out caught sight of them creating a nest out in the snow. They're scaring away the regular animals, and we need the Grimm taken care of as soon as possible." He said, and Winter nodded before looking at Alexander.

"Two hours?" She asked, and he thought for a few seconds before nodding.

"Should be enough time." He said, and she looked at the Mayor.

"We'll head out in two hours to take care of them." She said, and she walked off while Alexander looked back at the Mayor.

"Where do you keep the monitoring equipment?"

…

Alexander walked next to the Mayor two hours later as they walked back towards where Winter was waiting.

"So, three months from now, someone will be up here to check out the cameras again, make sure they're running, and replace that camera we talked about. It should be fine until then." Alexander said, and the Mayor nodded in understanding.

"Wonderful. Thank you." He replied.

"No problem. Just doing my job." Alexander said as they met up with Winter, who looked at Alexander expectantly.

"We're good to go."

…

Alexander and Winter dropped from the back of the dropship, the wind pulling at the hoods of their parkas, assaulting their goggles and scarves, and threatened to pull the dropship off course. The ten foot from the back of the dropship to the ground was nerve wracking as Alexander's eyes darted this way and that, looking for anything that might indicate an ambush. A few moments later, the metallic clanks from behind them told the two Specialists told them that the Atlesian Knights had joined them.

They started running across the snowy wasteland towards the pricks of black against the white of the landscape. After a minute or two of running, they reached the nest of Grimm. The Atlesian Knights quickly moved to encircle the nest, while Alexander and Winter moved in towards it. A minute later, the Knights were all in position, and Winter nodded at Alexander, who drew his pistols, and pointed them towards the hole down into the hole that served as the entrance to the nest of Grimm Ursai. He pulled the triggers once, the noise echoing down the hole. A few moments later, Ursai started to charge from the hole, however, Alexander and Winter had already backed up.

A glyph spun to life under Winter, and a flock of white birds materialized around her before flying towards the Ursai emerging from the hole, distracting them long enough for each new arrival to be cut down by bullets from either the Knights or Alexander. After almost ten minutes of Ursai emerging from the hole, they stopped. It was hard to tell how many they had killed, as the bodies starting disintegrating almost immediately after death, but Alexander had counted twenty five, though there were likely a few more that he couldn't see. Alexander fired a few shots down the hole to make sure that the Grimm had all been flushed out, and when nothing happened after a few minutes, the Knights started to walking towards the dropship that had come back to pick them up.

Alexander walked onto the dropship behind Winter, who looked tired, having exerted a lot of energy to summon and control as many birds as she did. The Knights locked into their places while Alexander and Winter sat down in seats along the side of the dropship. As the ship took off, Winter's head fell down to rest on Alexander's shoulder, a tired smile on her face.

…

 **One Year and Seven Months before the Battle of Beacon**

Alexander's fists clenched and unclenched as he sat next to Winter in the balcony of the opera hall. The entrancing and pained voice couldn't distract him from his anger, and he felt Winter's hand clamp down on his arm as he leaned forward, eyes locked on Weiss's face bathed in moonlight onstage. He looked at Winter, whose face may have been chiseled from marble for all the emotion it harbored. He took a deep breath, and leaned back in his chair, the lyrics washing over him as his eyes fixed, once again, on the scar that marred Weiss's face.

The week prior, Jacques had thought it a fantastic idea to pit Weiss against the Giant Armor that stood in the ballroom of the Schnee mansion. Weiss had originally protested, according to Klein, but Jacques had threatened to stop her from applying to Beacon. Not that Jacques really could have stopped her application in any way, shape, or form, but the threat was there. She had succeeded, barely. Her aura had broken midway through the fight, and the next time the Giant Armor had landed a hit, Weiss had gained a new scar over her left eye, though she was lucky that she hadn't lost the eye as well.

The concert ended, and Alexander and Winter stood up, calmly picking their way through the crowd to backstage, where Weiss would surely be, at least for the next half hour or so as she got ready to go back to the Schnee Mansion, and waited for the traffic around the opera house to die down. Finally, they reached the backstage, and weaved their way through several hallways until they reached Weiss's green room. Winter knocked on the door, and it opened a hair after a moment before closing and opening all the way, to reveal Weiss, who hadn't changed, though it didn't look like she had any intention of changing. The room had little, a single couch next to the door, a table with a mirror on it across the room from the couch, and a chair for the table.

"I noticed that father wasn't in attendance. Nor was Whitley, though both were to be expected, I suppose." She said, sitting down at the table, while Winter sat down on the couch, and Alexander leaned against the wall next to the door, his arms crossed.

"That's correct. Mother was there, as was Klein, but they had to leave just after the last song." Winter said, watching her sister's reflection carefully. Weiss nodded, and turned to Alexander, her face a blank canvas.

"Once I reach Beacon, will Father be able to control anything about my life?" Her face continued to be stony as always, though her eyes betrayed her concern. Alexander started to shake his head, but stopped to think for a moment before he spoke.

"Jacques will have no more control than you permit him to have. It's up to you how involved you want him in your life." She nodded, looking back at her mirror, wringing her hands in her lap, clearly nervous.

"They'll let me in, right?" Her mask cracked a bit, frowning nervously.

"You were accepted for initiation the other day, Weiss. Just show up to initiation, and do the best you can. Do that, and I have no doubt that you will get in just fine." He replied, a comforting smile on his face, and she nodded, her face hardening in determination. He looked over at Winter, his head tilted to the side when he saw the concerned look on her face.

"Weiss, why do you want to go to Beacon?" He asked, and she whipped around so quickly she probably cracked her neck.

"I'm a Schnee. It's my duty to fix what my father has done." Alexander and Winter exchanged looks, and Weiss turned back to the mirror in a huff.

"You wouldn't understand. It's my job now, as heiress. I have to make sure that my father doesn't permanently sully my family's legacy, and the Schnee name can once again become synonymous with hope and progress. The best way I can see to do that is to follow in my grandfather's footsteps and go to combat school." Winter's eyes flashed with sadness briefly as she stared at her sister.

"Weiss, you speak as if it is not my name as well, as if it is not my family. You don't have to shoulder this burden yourself." She stood up, as if to walk towards her sister, but she stopped herself. Weiss' lips tightened into a line as she watched her sister in the mirror.

"It's not your family anymore, and you don't get help me with this. You lost that chance when you decided to join the military." Her words dripped with venom and anger. Pain flashed across Winter's face for a brief moment until it hardened, and she glared at Weiss.

"Fine. Make your own path, Weiss, but don't expect any help from me." She walked out, the door clicking shut behind her. Alexander stayed in the room, head lowered, staring at the floor.

"That was wrong of you to say." He said, quietly, and Weiss sat as still as a statue, having seemingly come to the same decision.

"Trying to restore the honor of the Schnee name is an endeavour the two of you share. You are just going about it different ways." He continued, raising his head to watch Weiss, whose stony facial features were belied by the regret in her eyes. She turned to look at him and raised her head a fraction.

"Are you done?" She asked, and he nodded, his lips pursing, his eyes raw with disappointment.

"Then I would very much like to go home."

…

 **One Year and Five Months before the Battle of Beacon**

Alexander stood with a cliff to his back, in a dark green shirt, and dark brown cargo pants, breathing a bit heavily as he looked at the group of White Fang staring him down. He could see, at the back of the group, Blake, fear on her face. He locked eyes with her, and her amber eyes flashed with concern. He looked away, scanning the crowd of White Fang around him.

"What? No Adam Taurus? I feel insulted." He smiled mockingly at the large, burly faunus at the front of the group. He wore a full face mask, and carried a massive chainsaw of sorts.

"Adam Taurus doesn't bother himself with simple criminals who get caught sneaking around our camp." He growled at Alexander, who shrugged with a mocking smile, turning away from the lieutenant slightly, discretely sliding a hand in his pocket, and grabbing the detonator hidden there. He found Blake's gaze again, his own carrying a heavy question. After a moment of reluctance, Blake nodded nearly imperceptibly. His smile soured, not looking forward to what he would have to do to get out.

"Who ever said I didn't let myself get caught?" Alexander drew his pistols and fired into the crowd. Several faunus fell to the ground, and the White Fang members leveled their weapons at him, and he shot forward. He felt a bullet wing off of his aura before he reached the lieutenant, though it did nothing other than annoy him.

The lieutenant's chainsaw roared to life as he swung at Alexander with unexpected speed. He spun his pistols, and connected his escrima sticks, catching the chainsaw on his bo staff before pushing it away. He spun his bo staff as he dropped low, catching the follow up swipe from the chainsaw and pushing it away as he swiped the lieutenant's legs out from under him. Alexander wasn't able to capitalize on the opening, however, as he took a burst of bullets to the chest, knocking him on his back.

He rolled and stood up slowly, looking around again. The White Fang lieutenant had regained his footing, and the other members of the White Fang had taken a few steps closer to him, rifles pointed right at his chest. Alexander grimaced as the White Fang all pulled their triggers, his eyes exploding with a blindingly bright light as time seemed to stop. He dove forward, rolling under the wave of bullets that had threatened to kill him as he deactivated his semblance, his vision blurring momentarily. By the time he straightened up, he was in front of the lieutenant again, and the other White Fang members were turning to look at him.

He spun to the side and past the lieutenant, smacking the faunus with his bo staff, and forcing him to stumble forward a few steps. He spun and holstered his pistols as he felt bullets pepper his aura, shattering it while he continued his mad rush through the White Fang members. A sword came up towards his face from seemingly nowhere, and he managed to move to the side just enough to avoid getting his head chopped off, though the sword pierced the skin of his jaw, cutting from just below the corner of the left side of his mouth diagonally upwards, cutting across his cheek, and slashing a line up through his ear. He kept running, ducking, diving, and spinning through the faunus, a bullet sticking into his right shoulder and calf, and another skimming off his left ribcage, leaving a thin but painful cut in its wake.

Finally, he reached the back, where he grabbed Blake, looping his left arm around her neck while he passed her, spinning behind her, and forcefully pulling her back against him as he drew his pistol with his right hand, and pressing the barrel against her temple.

"Put down your weapons, or I put a full magazine through her head!" He yelled, eyes scanning the mass of White Fang members as he he started backing up slowly, pulling Blake with him. A few started to move towards him, and he pulled Blake closer, his lips pulling into a snarl, his finger tensed around the trigger of his pistol. They stopped and the faunus all slowly put down their weapons one by one, even the lieutenant, fearing the wrath of their leader should Blake die, something Alexander was counting on.

"Any of you follow me, and she dies!" He walked backward slowly, pulling Blake with him, who matched him step for step, his eyes fixed on the other White Fang members. Once they were out of hearing range, and far enough away that they likely wouldn't see Alexander's lips move, he spoke quietly.

"I'm sorry I had to do this, Blake." He sighed heavily, and he felt her shake her head.

"It's my fault you even got caught. None of this should have happened. You should never have been chased, and we would have never had to go with this plan." She replied as they kept moving, reaching the treeline and backing carefully into the forest.

"It's hardly your fault, and I am still sorry. Despite this mission being a failure, this is the last thing, I swear. After this, you are free to be yourself, and help the White Fang. If you are ever caught by the police, you have a get out of jail free card, and I also owe you a few really big favors besides that." They kept walking until they were sure they were out of sight, and not being followed. They broke apart, and Alexander holstered his pistol, a grimace on his face as his adrenaline faded, and the pain of his injuries finally hit him.

"Do you want any help?" Blake asked, looking concerned, and he gave her a pained smile.

"I will be fine, trust me." He said, and they stood uncomfortably for a few seconds until Blake pulled her Scroll out of her pocket, holding it out to him. He waved her off, however, with a much more genuine smile.

"Keep it. You need someway to get in touch with your father. And me, for that matter, when you want to redeem one of those favors." She nodded after a second of digesting his words, pocketing the scroll. He started walking away from her after a moment of silence, but looked back after a second.

"Thank you, Blake. You've helped a lot. I'll see you around." He said, waving over his shoulder as he started jogging slowly into the forest. Blake waited a few minutes before running off back towards the other White Fang members. They welcomed her with open arms, and, not for the first time, Blake wondered why she was still part of the White Fang, except this time, she didn't have an answer.

…

Alexander reached a clearing, hobbling slightly, his breath coming in short breaths, blood staining his shirt around the left side of his torso, his right pant leg, and his right shoulder. Blood was streaming down his neck into his collar, staining it as well, and coloring his skin a deep crimson. He saw a bullhead in the clearing, and the door opened, several people streaming out of the opening, his vision starting to swim as he struggled to stay on his feet. He heard someone yell out the word 'Flash' across the clearing.

"Thunder!" He managed to yell back, before he tipped over to the side, only to have someone catch him, though when he turned his head to look at them, he only saw a mass of swirling white dotted with blue. He felt someone pressing things against his face, ribs, calf and shoulder as blackness slowly swallowed his vision, and he passed out.

…

Qrow sat next to Alexander's bed in Beacon's medical wing, reading something on his Scroll. He looked up as Alexander stirred, his eyes opening slowly initially, though they quickly snapped open when they recognized their surroundings. Alexander sat up, looking around confused until the pain hit him, and he fell back in his bed, gasping, his eyes wide, scared to move any part of his torso, lest it aggravate his wounds. He looked over to see Qrow, and the two locked eyes, Alexander's flooded with confusion.

"Don't worry, the Ice Queen is here, too, though she both didn't want to be in the same room as me, and made up an excuse of some military business she had to take care of so she could leave. I'll go get her, I'm sure you want to see her much more than you want to see me." He stood up, and took a step to leave, but Alexander's hand shot out to grab his forearm, drawing his attention back to the man in the bed, who was grimacing in pain.

"Thank you for coming Qrow. It means a lot." He said, and Qrow looked a bit uncomfortable, though he nodded.

"No problem, kid." He said, and walked out. Alexander looked back at the ceiling, taking a deep breath as he waited for Winter to arrive. After a few minutes, she did just that, sweeping into the room and walking over to him. She stood by his bedside, and he turned to look at her with a smile. Though she was angry, she couldn't stop herself from smiling back, and grasping the hand that was beside him.

"So, how bad am I?" He said, and she shook her head.

"The worst part is over. They were worried for a bit that you had lost too much blood, but you're fine now. A few days here, and the worst thing you'll have to worry about will be scarring." She replied, and his left hand touching the bandages that covered the left side of his face. Her eyes followed his hand, and looked sympathetic.

"All your injuries will scar." She said, and he nodded, pursing his lips, a bit annoyed.

"Right, I definitely need more of those. At least the face one will make me look roguish." Alexander replied, with a joking smile to Winter. She smiled tightly at him until he squeezed her hand.

"C'mon, I know I'm not funny, but I feel I deserve at least a pity laugh." He said, and her smile widened, becoming much more genuine as she slapped his arm. He winced a bit, but laughed. She waited until he was done laughing until she asked him what she wanted to know.

"So? Did you figure out what you wanted to know?" She asked, and his face fell while he shook his head.

…

A few days later, Alexander stood in front of Ironwood's desk on the _Yggdrasil_ , miles above the city of Vale, hands clasped behind his back, dressed in his white cammies, waiting for the General to connect his call to Ozpin. After a few moments of waiting, Ozpin connected, his face appearing on the General's Scroll.

"Alexander, if you would." Ironwood said, gesturing to Alexander who nodded.

"The mission was a failure. I was made trying to sneak into the camp by a guard that wasn't supposed to be there. My intel was, evidently, inaccurate, and I had to bolt. The White Fang chased me to a cliff, and the only way for me to get out was through the crowd. I sustained several injuries while I was trying to get through them, but I was ultimately able to escape with the help of my White Fang informant." Alexander waited patiently for the two men to respond.

"Alright. Dismissed, Commander." Ironwood replied. Alexander nodded, and turned to walk out of the room. He stopped, however, halfway to the door, when his Scroll started ringing. He pulled it out and saw that it was Blake who was calling him, and picked up.

"Blake? I didn't expect a call this soon. What's wrong?"

"I'm done. I don't want to be part of the White Fang anymore." Alexander looked over at Ironwood with a questioning look. Ironwood nodded, and started talking to Ozpin in a hushed tone. After a few seconds, Ironwood looked up and nodded to Alexander again, who smiled.

"Hey, Blake, have you ever thought about going to Beacon? Become a Huntress? It'll give you a different way to affect how people view faunus, and the skills you learned with the White Fang won't go to waste." There was a long silence before Blake responded.

"I would like to go to Beacon, yes." She replied.

"Good. I'll get you in touch with Ozpin eventually, but until then, send me your coordinates, and I'll come pick you up in Vale and set you up in a safehouse." Alexander hung up and, after a few moments, got a message from Blake. He turned back to Ironwood.

"I need a bullhead." Alexander said, and Ironwood nodded.

"Of course. Ozpin said you should bring her to Beacon. He'll find a dorm room for her to stay in until the semester starts"

…

Alexander found Blake in Forever Fall, next to a train track, eyes red from crying. He walked up next to her and sat down.

"You alright?" He asked, and she took a few seconds before she shook her head.

"I don't know. I thought I knew Adam, I thought he was leading the White Fang down a path that would be good for us in the long run, but I was wrong. I was deeply, ridiculously, wrong." She trailed off and looked at him questioningly when he didn't say anything, just humming quietly in thought, and kept looking into the forest.

"Isn't this the part where you tell me something wise based off of your own experiences? Try to help me through the hardships I'm facing? Maybe tell me that it gets better?" She asked, and he shrugged.

"This is something that you have to reconcile with yourself. I can't tell you how to do that, but I can tell you that it will get better eventually." He replied, and her face fell.

"Believe me. It might not seem like it right now, but it definitely will get better. You will trust other people, and hopefully they won't let you down. But, Beacon is a good place to meet life long friends. You just have to open up to them." She looked at him, and, after a few moments of thought, she smiled. It was small, barely a curve of her lips, but it was there.

"Alright. I'll give them a chance when I go to Beacon." Alexander smiled back.

"That's all you need to do. Trust me, they won't let you down."

…

 **A/N: Hey all, glad you came back for this chapter. Thanks for the support for this story, it's super awesome to see the follows and favorites and whatnot in my inbox. As always, reviews are appreciated, and thanks to Bulba Fett for betaing. See you next time! Peace!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: We do not own RWBY in any way. This is a fan written story, obviously, and all rights belong to Rooster Teeth Productions. Please support the official release.**

…

Ch 9: A Glimmer of Hope

…

"Because I might just cry if I don't keep it moving.

I focus on what I can make and not what just got ruined."

-Watsky

 _Cardboard Castles_

"I never conquered, rarely came

Tomorrow holds such better days

Days when I still feel alive

When I can't wait to get outside"

-Blink-182

 _Adam's Song_

…

 **One Year and Four Months before the Battle of Beacon**

The trees whipped past Alexander as he sprinted through a forest, leaping over roots and weaving in between bushes. Up ahead, he saw Qrow, in bird form, burst through the treeline, and pushed harder. After a moment, he burst through the treeline, following Qrow down a path that intersected with another road. At the intersection, he saw two people holding a woman, specifically Amber, while another woman held a hand covered with a white glove towards the Maiden. He saw something black shoot out of the glove toward Amber, hitting her in the face, before Qrow reached them, barely a moment later.

Qrow blocked his view for a second, but he saw Amber collapse, and the other woman's eye light up with the same ethereal light that Amber's used to when she used her Maiden powers. Qrow crouched down to catch Amber, and Alexander kept running. He vaulted over Qrow and Amber towards the woman with glowing eyes, who was wearing a red dress that covered her arms, black glass heels, and a black glass charm anklet.

She seemed to float up a foot or so off the ground, and Alexander was thrown back, skidding along the ground, by a burst of hot air that exploded out from her. He rolled to his feet in a crouch next to Qrow, glaring at the woman, and the green-haired teenage girl and grey-haired boy with her, though the woman looked to be a few years younger than Alexander. A strange eye-like symbol spun to life under the trio's feet, and Alexander and Qrow leaped away before an explosion blasted a hole in the road, obscuring their vision with dust for a few moments. When the dust had cleared, Amber's assailants had disappeared.

Alexander cursed and stomped the ground, causing a small crater in his anger before he looked at Qrow, and finally noticing the extensive scarring on the left side of Amber's face, and cursed again, louder. Alexander dialed a number on his Scroll before saying a series of numbers and letters, looking at his Scroll again, and reciting their coordinates to the person on the other end. The whole time, Qrow was pale as he checked for a pulse. He found it, and leaned in to listen for breathing right when Alexander hung up.

"Bullhead will be here soon. Apparently we ran farther than we thought." Alexander spoke quietly, his eyes fixed on Amber, searching her face for any sign of consciousness.

"She's fine, as far as I can tell." Qrow said, looking up at Alexander, and running a hand through his hair worriedly. Alexander pursed his lips.

"She doesn't look fine." Qrow nodded his agreement.

"No, she does not. We'll have to ask Ozpin about this. I think we're out of the depth of medical science."

…

Alexander, Ozpin, and Qrow ringed the hospital bed where Amber lay, watching her monitors carefully as a nurse busied herself with some minutia in the room. The nurse finally left, the door closing behind her, and Alexander walked over to lock it. When he took his place next to Amber's bed once more, Ozpin spoke, in a low voice, measuring his words carefully.

"There is nothing medically wrong with Amber, technically. She is fine for the time being, though I believe that will change." Alexander and Qrow waited patiently, their eyes now on Ozpin.

"The problem is, Amber's Maiden powers were anchored to her by her aura. When that woman took some of Amber's powers, she took some of her aura as well. Had she been able to succeed, Amber would have died instantly, her aura, soul, and powers ripped from her body." Qrow looked like he had eaten something ungodly bitter, the way his face contorted in disgust.

"Why the fuck would someone do that?" Alexander asked, his face twisted in a similar look of shock and disgust.

"That's just… inhuman." Qrow muttered, and Ozpin nodded.

"I suspect that this 'Queen' that Arthur Watts is working for is the one responsible. I'd wager that woman was indoctrinated into believing that this was a noble course of action, that it was the _right_ course of action. I'd bet that she did not know the full consequences of her actions." He was contemplative, looking at Amber, though not seeing her, his mind elsewhere.

"With only half the power, she will constantly be searching to complete her dominion over the power. She will be back eventually, though I think that Amber will be much worse by then. Even now, missing some of her soul, she is barely functioning. Over time, one of two things will happen, either Amber's power will seek out the woman itself, eventually deserting Amber's body altogether, and taking her soul with it. Should that happen, Amber will absolutely die, if she does not die before then. Or, the more likely outcome, I think, Amber's power comes back to her, since you two were able to stop the woman early enough, and she wakes from her coma, completely fine." Alexander's eyes welled with tears, and he blinked furiously to clear them. He took a deep breath and swallowed to clear the knot in his throat before he spoke.

"What… what do we do?" Alexander asked, and Ozpin didn't respond for a long moment until he sighed.

"We bide our time and find another potential Fall Maiden in case Amber doesn't recover. Should we do that, and should they be willing, we try to transfer the remainder of Amber's power to the new Maiden. It may not work, and we won't like doing it, but it is the best hope we have if the worst comes to pass. Until then, we will keep her on life support here in the Beacon vault." Ozpin was solemn, his head bowed, and Alexander's hands tightened into fists at his side. Qrow lay a hand on Alexander's shoulder, and the Specialist relaxed marginally.

"Okay. Then that is what we will do." Alexander said, before walking out, followed by Qrow moments later. Qrow caught up to him in the hallway, and put a hand on Alexander's shoulder, causing him to stop and turn around, his eyes glowing, and his jaw set in anger.

"The next time I see the bitch that did this, she's fucking dead."

…

 **One Year and Three Months before the Battle of Beacon**

Alexander lifted up the hem of his shirt to wipe the sweat from his face as he walked into the house that he and Winter shared on the outskirts of downtown Atlas. Locking the door behind him, he walked over to the bookshelf, looking at the picture on one shelf as his breathing steadily slowed down. Taken by Lily during their third year at Beacon, it depicted Alexander, scowling in mock anger, crouching, with Amber's hand resting on his head as she stood to his left with her legs crossed, and leaning her weight on him with a smile. Uranus stood to Alexander's right, arms crossed, his grin wide and confident as usual, and Quentin to Uranus's right, his reserved smile calm and content. Alexander swallowed thickly, before sighing heavily, and walking upstairs towards the bedroom.

A beeping drew his attention to his nightstand, expecting to see a message from Ironwood, but he saw one from Ozpin instead. It had six attachments to it, and a short message from Ozpin himself. He sat down on his bed to read it.

'Found these this morning. Amber recorded them for you, but never seemed to get around to sending them to you. Thought you might want them. -Ozpin' Alexander teared up a bit as he selected the first file, dated over two years prior. He hit play and put his Scroll down on the nightstand next to him as he lay down. There was a few seconds of silence, a throat clearing, and some rustling before he heard anything of interest.

"Hey, Alexander. Seeing you in Vacuo reminded me that I haven't been the best at keeping in touch, and I'm sorry about that. To fix that, I'm going to record one of these every few months or so, and I'll send them to you when I get the chance. Or, better yet, I'll give them to you in person. Anyway, Alexander, I'm glad you took my advice. Both parts of it. Qrow told me you're seeing Winter. I'm really happy for you, and I wish you the best of luck working with General Ironwood and the Atlesian military. Love you, little brother." The recording cut out, and Alexander could no longer keep his tears from flowing as he selected the next one with a sad smile.

"Hey, Alexander, me again. This'll be quick, because I know you're travelling all over the world for Ironwood the same way Qrow is for Ozpin. You guys are doing so much, and I'm so proud I know you. When I stop at inns, I've been telling people stories about you that Ozpin and Qrow have told me. They love stories about you in Mistral, especially the ones from your Beacon days. Maybe I just think they like those stories more because I like remembering those stories more than hearing stories about you I wasn't around for. I miss you, little brother. Love you." Before he even realized he had done it, he had hit play on the next recording, closing his eyes as he cried. Amber spoke in a much more muted tone in this one, sorrow dripping off every word.

"Uranus died last month. I still can't believe it really happened. With how much energy he had, I didn't think he would ever die. I don't know how I got through that without breaking down. I guess it helps that you were there. I'm not sure if you noticed, but I got to talk to Winter briefly. She's nice. You're good for each other. People in the boonies still love hearing stories about you. Heard another traveler telling a story about you when I was at an inn last week. It was really cool. I miss you. I'll always love you, little brother." He stood up and paced for a few minutes, before taking a long shower. He towelled off and put on clothes before sitting back down on the bed and playing the fourth message as he lay down.

"Hey Alexander. Was on Patch briefly, and I stopped by Tai and Summer's house. Yang and Ruby both still want to be Huntresses. I asked Yang about her mom, and she mentioned that a blocked number had been sending her a file about her mother every two weeks for the past few years. She had no idea who it was, but I'm glad you're doing that for her. She needs that closure. Neither of them seem to remember you, I'm sorry to say. It's still so odd to hear stories about you through Ozpin. I wish I were still part of those stories. I miss you so much. I hope I see you soon. Love you." He pressed play on the fifth one, draping his other arm over his eyes as he started crying again.

"Hey, Alexander. Heard you were in the hospital briefly, and decided to record a message for you. Hope your scar doesn't look too bad, and that Winter finds it attractive." Amber laughed, making Alexander laugh in kind.

"Of course she will, from what Qrow said, you're crazy about each other. Anyway, he said that Blake girl from our last mission together is going to be going to Beacon because of you. I'm so happy that you could help someone like yourself. I hope she has as much success at Beacon as you did, but of course she will. You're the one that recommended her. Love you, little brother, and hopefully I'll see you soon." He pressed play on the final message with a deep breath, waiting to hear Amber's last words to him with a small smile.

"Hey, Alexander. Umm, don't really know why I'm recording this one, other than I kind of have a bad feeling. Don't know why, but hopefully it's nothing. I just wanted to say, in case there was any doubt, little brother, I love you. I will always love you, Alexander."

…

 **One Year and Two Months before the Battle of Beacon**

"Last night, a club exploded in downtown Vale. The cause of the destruction is, at this time, still unknown, but the owner of the club, Junior Xiong, says that there was a gas leak, but authorities will have an official report later today. In local news, another faunus rights protest had to be broken up by military personnel when a dozen members of the White Fang came onto the scene and attempted to incite a riot. Five military personnel were injured, though thankfully none were severe. The White Fang members resisted attempts to bring them in, and all are either in critical condition or dead." Said the news anchor, one Stephen Steel. Ironwood rubbed the bridge of his nose as he leaned back in his chair in his office, his eyes closed. He heard the door open and opened his eyes after a few seconds to see Alexander standing in front of his desk, hands clasped behind his back, and head bowed.

"We need to get control of the White Fang. Somebody is funding them, getting them Dust and weapons." Ironwood said, and Alexander shifted a bit uncomfortably.

"I don't know what we can do about the White Fang abroad, but I can deal with the White Fang here in Atlas. It's fixing the symptom rather than the disease, but it should buy us some time." Alexander replied, and Ironwood thought for a few seconds before sighing.

"Alright. Shut down the White Fang here in Atlas, and then we'll see what we can do about the problems abroad. You have one month, and every aggressive action you intend to take goes through me first. Understood?" Alexander nodded, turned, and walked out.

…

A few weeks later, Alexander stood inside a mobile command center, wearing black cargo pants, combat boots, and a black button up shirt with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. The orange of his tattoo made it stand out in stark contrast to his black clothes. He stood next to a man named Lieutenant-Commander Jean-Pierre Martin, a platoon leader in the domestic protection division of the Atlesian military. All in all, his job was similar to that of Vale's SWAT division of their police force. Commander Martin was a career infantryman, having enlisted as a private almost twenty years ago, lying about his age so he could enlist when he was only sixteen. He was a lithe man, his frame not that much bulkier than marathon runners, though he was much stronger than he looked. He had dark purple hair that looked black in low light, and his irises were a pale orange that in the right lighting, looked like they weren't there, and made it seem as if he only had a pupil. Commander Martin didn't have any facial hair, and he wore the typical dark blue cammies of his division that his entire platoon wore under their body armor.

Commander Martin handed a headset to Alexander, who took it, placing the headphones over his ears, and pulling the mic down to the corner of his mouth.

"Sound off, gentlemen." Alexander said, smiling when he heard each man call out, ending with Commander Martin. He gave Commander a thumbs up, and he walked out of the command center, leaving Alexander behind alone to look at twenty four different monitors, one for each member of the breaching team, who were all wearing helmet cameras, and one for each sniper placed on rooftops at the cardinal directions around the White Fang hideout. The snipers were using thermal sights, giving Alexander a good idea of what the platoon would be walking into.

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking." Alexander paused momentarily when a few of the men chuckled at his admittedly terrible joke. "

"What you're looking at right now is a storage warehouse that the White Fang has repurposed as their Atlas headquarters. Take this down, and we stop White Fang activity here for the foreseeable future. Snipers are all packing high powered rifles with wind dust rounds that will punch through the bricks of the warehouse, if we need them, but hopefully we won't have to go weapons free. Understood?" Alexander asked, and heard twenty four people sound their assent.

"Good. There is a recruitment meeting going on right now, so we're likely looking at the entirety of the White Fang's presence here in Atlas, on top of at least a dozen more hopefuls. Typical breach and clear protocol on my signal, don't go until I say. When I say to go, breach teams, you go in hard, and fast, and drop anyone with a weapon not wearing our uniform. Understood?" He waited for their assent again, and got it a moment later.

"Okay. Wait for my signal. Over and out." He leaned down to the computer in front of him that had been hooked up to the sound system in the warehouse earlier that day. A few seconds later, he had control of the sound system, the speech of the White Fang leader coming through in his headphones. With a push of a button, the sound system shut off, and in the thermals, Alexander saw a person elevated above the rest look around in confusion. Alexander took a deep breath before hitting another button.

"Hello there, White Fang members. My name is Cernunnos, and it's lovely to see you all this evening." All their heads started to look around in confusion, searching for the source of the voice.

"Sorry to say that I am not there to see you in person, but I have some friends who are. See, by associating yourselves with the White Fang, you are corroborating a terrorist organisation and their actions. I will give you all one chance to surrender peacefully before my friends in the military come in and start having to forcefully arrest you all. Should you wish to cooperate, get on your knees, put your hands behind your head, and interlock your fingers. You have thirty seconds before my friends come in and either forcefully bring you in, or, should you resist, react with an appropriate display of force. Your thirty seconds begin now." Alexander said, and watched as over half the thermal signatures dropped to their knees immediately as he switched channels back to that of the military.

"Alright. Anyone not on their knees goes on the ground. Anyone who draws a weapon is to be considered an enemy combatant. From here on you are weapons free. Okay. Go in three...two...one!" The walls of the warehouse exploded in three places, and the door of the warehouse was blasted off it's hinges as the breach teams walked in. Alexander saw a few of the shapes start to move, and immediately called them out as the breach teams made their way into the warehouse.

"Snipers, the leader on the stage, person in the middle of the crowd still standing, and person next to them." He watched all three targets drop to the ground as the breach teams took out another five. Those eight were the only ones who went for weapons, and they quickly dropped those who tried to resist arrest before they walked around, cuffing everyone still alive.

"Good work gentlemen. Prisoner transports will be here soon. Commander Martin, they are your men to command once again. Over and out." Alexander said, taking his headset off with a sigh, rubbing his face with his hands as he stepped out of the command center, watching bullheads start to arrive. The bullheads landed right as Commander Martin walked out at the head of a column of prisoners escorted by his men. They had started loading the prisoners onto the bullheads when a news van pulled up to the scene, and Stephen Steel jumped out of the sliding door, a cameraman right behind him. Stephen Steel was a thin man, but not thin the same way Commander Martin was, rather the kind of skinny that comes from having done little physical work in your life. He wore a light grey suit, his dyed white hair slicked back from his forehead with too much gel.

The reporter immediately accosted the Lieutenant-Commander, asking question after question about the operation that Martin all answered with 'No comment'. Finally, the prisoners were done loading onto the bullheads, and Martin started making his way over to the commander center, with a furtive look towards Alexander, who smiled wryly. Commander Martin reached the commander center with Stephen Steel in tow a moment later. The reporter immediately zeroed in on the new face, who turned his head slightly to hide his scar from the camera.

"Who are you, and what was your involvement in the operation?" He asked, face lit up with hope. Alexander raised his eyebrow questioningly.

"Not that it's really any of your business, but I'm the IT guy. I'm just here to make sure the coms work." Alexander said, and he could see Commander Martin smile as he locked the doors of the command center.

"Could you tell us anything about what happened on the operation?" Stephen asked, and Alexander shook his head, with a fakely sad smile.

"Sorry, no. I don't listen to the coms, I only set them up. Goodbye, Mister Steel." He turned on his heel, and sat in the passenger seat of the command center as Commander Martin drove them away from the scene of the raid.

…

 **One Year and One Month before the Battle of Beacon**

A group of White Fang members slowly walked through the door of a bank in Atlas, weapons drawn, and started to fire into the crowd of people in line at the tills. The bankers dropped behind the counters immediately to take cover, but the other bank goers had no such protection. One by one, the people dropped to the ground and didn't rise. When no one was left standing, the faunus started to walk up to the bodies, and rolling them over, looking for someone. One rolled two men over before stopping in shock.

"Hey, boss, these guys look the same!" He yelled, prompting the others to take better looks at the bodies they were checking. They slowly came to realize that each male they rolled over looked the same, while the females all looked the same as well.

"The Schnee bitch isn't here! We've been had!" One of them yelled, turning to find Alexander standing in the doorway, pistols drawn and leveled at the crowd of White Fang. The bankers popped up from behind the counter, one of which looked exactly like the men on the ground, another of which looked exactly like the women on the ground. The bodies on the ground slowly started to dissolve into a grey ash as one of the White Fang tried to level his weapon, only to fall in less than a second, perforated with bullets.

"You are under arrest for committing acts of terror, and conspiring to assassinate a key member of the Atlas military. Lay down your weapons, and surrender peacefully, and nobody will be hurt more than you already have been." Alexander said, and the White Fang slowly lowered their weapons, placing them on the floor.

...

 **One Year before the Battle of Beacon**

Alexander walked into his house, locking the door behind him, and walking up the stairs. He smiled as he walked into the bedroom, looking towards the sliding glass door at the back that opened up onto the balcony, both of which Winter had had put in last month. Her white hair was out of it's bun, and cascaded over the back of the chair that she was curled up in on the balcony. The overhang above the balcony protected her from the light rain that fell from the dark grey sky. He walked out to see his girlfriend staring off into the distance, wearing white denim jeans and a white blouse, absorbed in her thoughts, the ends of her lips pulled down in a frown.

He sat down in front of her chair, leaning against the banister. While he waited, he rolled up the sleeves of his black shirt to his elbows, and then resting his elbows on knees that were covered by his deep blue cargo pants. After a minute or so of sitting in silence, Winter looked at him with sad eyes.

"Weiss is at Beacon today. Her first night alone, and it's in a different kingdom." She said, quietly, and Alexander just sat quietly, letting Winter say what she wanted to before he said or did anything.

"I know that this is what she wanted to do, what she thinks she needs to do, and that she is more than capable of handling whatever the headmaster might throw at her tomorrow, but I can't help but worry. I wish I were there to help her, or protect her, or something." She looked off into the darkening sky, the light circle of yellow of the sun through the clouds starting to fall below the horizon.

"It's just like you said, Weiss is capable. She'll be fine. Besides, Ozpin knows that he has you to answer to if anything bad happens to her." He smiled when Winter laughed at his poor attempt to lighten the mood.

"I'm sure that tomorrow afternoon you'll get a very irate message from her about how she hates her teammates." He said, and she raised an eyebrow at him.

"Does everyone at Beacon hate their team?" He grinned.

"Only at the beginning." She smiled, closing her eyes in exasperation, before her face settled into a more grim look.

"Do you think she'll really try to talk to me?" She asked, and he thought about it for a few seconds.

"It's only a matter of time. In my experience, the absence of those you love is a quick way for you to forget why you were mad at them. Weiss is proud, but she is not too proud to be unable to admit when she was wrong."

…

 **Ten Months Before the Battle of Beacon**

The sun shone brightly on the pavement and reflected harshly off the glass of the highrises in downtown Atlas. It forced Alexander to wear aviators to protect his eyes as he walked through the city. He walked, in his full camo uniform, at the head of a column of ten other Specialists. Heads turned and followed them as they stopped in front of a townhouse. Alexander made a hand motion, and three of the Specialists walked around the back of the house while four others turned around and started directing the crowd away from the area.

A minute passed, and the crowd had been moved far enough away that Alexander felt comfortable to continue, and advanced to the door with the three men still with him. He climbed the stairs, and knocked on the door. It opened a crack, and an eye peeked out to see Alexander staring at them.

"What do you want?" The person asked, their voice deep and gravelly, clearly that of a man, with a heavy Vacuoan accent. Alexander didn't say anything for a long moment, instead looking around the door jam intently, looking for something. When he didn't find anything he looked back at the man in the crack in the door.

"We have reason to believe that this house has been used for meetings of the terrorist organization known as the White Fang, and got a tip that there was a meeting currently underway. If you would let us in to search the house, we'll be on our way quickly once we prove that our tip was false." Alexander said, and the eye made no motion to move.

"You got a warrant?" He asked, louder than necessary, and Alexander sighed while he pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket that he slowly unfolded. The sounds of several people rushing up a set of stairs was very faint, but it was there, coming from the back of the house. Alexander held the warrant up for the man to see, and he eyed it through the crack in the door. From the back of the house, Alexander heard a door creak open, and a series of thuds and muffled shouts drew the man at the door's attention away.

Alexander immediately drew his foot up, planting it in the door, breaking the chain off the door jam, and slamming the door open. The man on the other side, revealed to be a rabbit faunus, had been thrown to the ground by the violent action, and Alexander stormed into the house, looking this way and that until he reached the back of the house, where about ten faunus were lying on the ground, groaning, as the three Specialists tied them up.

"This all of them?" He asked, and got three nods in response. He turned on his heel, and walked back towards the front door, pulling a zip tie out of his pocket. The rabbit faunus tried to lunge at him, but Alexander dodged to the side, before throwing the rabbit faunus out the front door and onto the front lawn. When the man tried to get up again, Alexander pushed him back down, planted a knee in his back and pulled his arms back, zip tying his wrists together before pulling the rabbit faunus to his feet.

"You are under arrest for conspiracy to commit acts of terror." He said, and handed the faunus off to another Specialist as he walked into and around the house, taking pictures of everything as he did, before he walked down the stairs. The wooden steps creaked a bit as he walked down, and the basement was dark, forcing him to take off his sunglasses. He flicked a switch, and stared in shock. The floor was covered with rows of chairs, and along one wall was plastered a map of Atlas, as well as pictures of people who were labeled 'Enemies of the White Fang', though all the rest of the writing was done in some strange code, the symbols foreign and unknown to Alexander. One of the Specialists walked down the stairs behind him, but stopped in surprise when he saw the basement.

"Commander, what the hell is this?" He asked, and Alexander shook his head.

"I not sure, Lieutenant. Get cryptology on the phone, and the crime lab as well. We need this entire house processed, like, yesterday."

"Understood, sir." The stairs creaked as the other Specialist walked up the stairs. Alexander walked closer to the wall, looking at the map, that, now that he looked closer, was covered in pins in seemingly random locations. Among the 'Enemies of the White Fang', he saw Winter's military I.D. photo, Weiss's Beacon I.D. photo, a picture of Jacques taken from a magazine article from last month, and pictures of Anna and Whitley. He looked through them, and saw that they were mostly pictures of Schnee executives and board members, as well as their family members. Some of the pictures had X's through them, and he recognized them as Schnee executives who had been killed by the White Fang, some as long ago as three years prior.

…

"Cryptology cracked their code, if you could call it that, almost immediately. It was just a slightly altered form of ancient Mistralian. The wall had dates and times for each location, and when we cross referenced those times and dates with the itineraries of the Schnee executives on the wall, each date and time was linked to a trip that a Schnee executive would be making. We're going to be staking a few soldiers at each location just to be safe, but every Schnee executive has changed their schedules. Jacques insisted on dealing with the leak of their schedules in house, so I can't tell you anymore about that." Ironwood nodded, looking at the file that Alexander had just handed him. He read it in silence for a few minutes while Alexander stood quietly.

"Okay. Good job, Commander. Now, I'm sorry to say that I have another job for you, or, rather, Ozpin and I have another job for you." Alexander tilted his head in confusion.

"Dust robberies have gone up in Vale by a drastic amount, most of which have been linked back to Roman Torchwick, but it seems he has some new backup in the form of the White Fang." Alexander's hands clenched at the thief's name, but did nothing else, waiting for Ironwood to finish his train of thought.

"Given your familiarity with Roman Torchwick and the White Fang, and as Qrow is, currently, MIA, we thought that you would be a good fit for this job. You'll officially be going under the guise of 'scouting the area and assessing security threats' for my arrival in a few months when the Vytal Festival gets underway, but unofficially, you'll be helping Ozpin locate and apprehend Roman Torchwick and his White Fang associates. Understood, Commander?" Ironwood asked, and Alexander nodded immediately.

"Understood, sir. I'll catch a boat in the morning." He said, and turned to leave when Ironwood held up a hand.

"No need. Winter said she will not need her airship for the next few days, and that you can take it. You need as much time in Vale as you can manage."

…

The airship landed two days later, and Alexander walked off onto a Beacon landing pad in full uniform, beret, camo, and all, though he had rolled up his sleeves to his elbows. He slid his sunglasses on as he looked around. A sea of students had stopped where they were in the courtyard some distance away to stare at the ship that took off behind him. After a moment, he noticed Ozpin and Glynda approach, and turned to greet them, smiling.

"Hello, there, Professors. Lovely day, isn't it?" He asked, and Ozpin nodded jovially. Glynda, meanwhile, was alternating between staring at his tattoo and the scar on his cheek with equal surprise. Alexander looked at Ozpin, who shrugged, before he looked back at Glynda.

"Something wrong, Professor Goodwitch?" Alexander asked, and she shook her head.

"No, nothing wrong. Just a bit surprised by how you've changed, is all." She replied, a bit stiffly.

"Alright, then, let's get going." He said, and Professor Ozpin started leading them down the path. Alexander started looking around at the students as they reached the courtyard, and noticed four girls, two of which had to strain to look over the crowd of students. He raised his sunglasses, and made eye contact with Weiss, shaking his head slowly. She deflated almost immediately, and the girl next to her, who Alexander recognized as Qrow's niece Ruby, moved to comfort her instantly. Alexander smiled when he saw Blake standing with Weiss, Ruby, and Ruby's sister Yang. Lowering his sunglasses back over his eyes, he turned back forward, following Ozpin and Glynda through the academy until they reached the elevator to Ozpin's office, though as he walked, every so often he noticed, out of the corner of his eye, a black bow that he knew belonged to Blake.

The elevator ride to Ozpin's office was silent, as was the first minute or so in said office, as Alexander made himself a cup of coffee, his sunglasses now in his pocket. He stood in front of Ozpin's desk patiently drinking as the headmaster leaned back in his chair, drinking his own cup of coffee, Glynda steadily getting more and more annoyed at their lackadaisical attitude.

"So, White Fang and Torchwick, huh?" Alexander asked, and Ozpin nodded.

"Indeed. Roman Torchwick is back to his thieving ways, and I suspect that he is in league with the same woman who attacked Amber, who is, of course, working for the 'Queen'."

"Naturally." Alexander responded, setting his coffee mug down on the desk, and crossing his arms.

"So, you know what to do. Find out what they're doing, why they're doing it, and, well, take them down, whatever form that may take. Ideally that could be done before the Vytal Festival starts, but that is by no means a hard deadline. Whenever it happens is fantastic. Anything else you need to know?" Ozpin asked, and Alexander thought for a few seconds before he shook his head.

"Nope. Got all I need from the dossier General Ironwood gave me before I left." Ozpin nodded in understanding, and then motioned dismissively to Alexander.

"You are free to leave, then. Get in contact with us if you need help of any kind." Alexander waved to the professors as he stepped into the elevator, and rode it down. When the doors opened at the bottom, he wasn't prepared for the sight that greeted him. In the room at the bottom of the elevator, stood Weiss and her entire team. Weiss' arms were crossed angrily, matching the icy glare she sent at him. Blake was watching him in confusion over his presence, while Yang and Ruby looked at him with faces of vague recognition, as if they knew they should know him, but didn't quite remember who he was or why they knew him.

"Hey Weiss, nice weather here in Vale, huh? Sure beats Atlas winters." He said, with a smile that dropped a bit when she kept glaring at him. He sighed, and decided to wait for her to vocalize her anger, rather than trying to draw it out of her. The room was uncomfortably silent for a long while, Weiss glaring at Alexander, and Alexander looking anywhere but her. At one point, he got bored, and pulled out his sunglasses, and started cleaning them. Finally, Weiss spoke.

"Why are you using Winter's airship?" She asked, clearly angry. He looked at her flatly.

"Why do you care, Weiss? You didn't want to actually _see_ her or anything, do you? Because usually when I want to see someone, I actually _talk_ to them, regardless how angry I am with them, or how petty the argument is." He said, his voice monotone and emotionless except for the sarcasm practically dripping off every word. Weiss sputtered a bit, and he put his sunglasses back in his pocket.

"Before you try talking to Winter in person, why don't you reach out to her and apologize. She knows you didn't mean what you said, but it still hurt. So call her soon, yeah?" He said, and Weiss gaped at him for a second, before nodding.

"Good. Now, if nobody else is going to be angry at me for something, my hotel should be starting to allow people to check in. Excuse me." He said, walking out of the room, leaving behind a very confused team RWBY behind him.

…

 **Nine Months Before the Battle of Beacon**

Alexander watched from across the street as Penny met up with team RWBY, and shot a quick message off to General Ironwood before he went on his way towards the dock. A big shipment of Schnee Dust would dock in an hour, and he wanted to be able to watch both the unloading of the Dust, and also the heist that was sure to occur immediately after. Roman and the White Fang hadn't been this ambitious yet, but he was willing to bet they wouldn't be able to pass up the chance.

A few hours later, Alexander lay on the roof of one of the warehouses, most of the way done with an apple. He took one last bite and threw the core behind him as a bullhead descended from the sky onto the dock, one warehouse to his right. The bullhead landed, and he watched as White Fang members walked off, followed by Roman Torchwick, who immediately started patronizing and insulting the faunus. He was so engrossed in watching the White Fang go about their business that he didn't notice when Roman left his line of sight.

A few seconds later, an explosion went off, and Alexander started looking around for the source, seeing nothing until the fighting moved back into his eyesight, and he saw Blake and a monkey faunus fighting the White Fang. He hung his head and sighed exasperatedly.

"Goddamit. Now, Blake? Really? You had to choose tonight for your vendetta against the White Fang?" He muttered, but did nothing, preferring to stay unseen for the time being. That ended quickly when, Torchwick tried to drop a shipping container on top of Blake and the other faunus, Ruby Rose appeared on the rooftop next to him, with Penny in tow, and Ruby got shot in the chest with a dust blast. Alexander cursed and jumped to his feet, running and jumping off the roof moments after Penny, managing to land fairly near her. He turned to the Atlas robot, who had already taken down the White Fang members in the time it took him to land, and yelled out orders as more bullheads arrived.

"Penny, your new priority is to eliminate those bullheads! Torchwick is _my_ objective!" He yelled, running off towards the bullheads that were still on the ground. A few seconds later, the hair on the back of his neck stood on end as Penny fired a massive laser, cutting through and downing two of the bullheads in the air, and causing the other to turn and leave, before he heard a loud crash a few more seconds later as Penny started pulling another out of the sky. Roman turned and ran the second he saw Alexander coming for him, but Alexander managed to catch up quickly. He tackled Roman, subtly slipping something into Roman's pocket before the barrel of Roman's cane-gun was discharged into the ground next to him, throwing him up and away from the thief. He got to his feet as quick as he could, although he did so a bit shakily, firing a few shots after the bullhead Roman boarded as it took off, but it was too far away for anything to hit. A few seconds later, Penny joined his side as he cursed, and turned to walk away.

"Good job, Penny. I'll be sure to tell your father how well you did tonight, although you shouldn't have been here in the first place." Penny's face fell, and Alexander's face twisted a bit in distaste as he said that. She really had done a good job, but she wasn't supposed to do anything that may draw attention until the Vytal Tournament.

"I'll call a car, and have you picked up soon. Until then, feel free to stay with your friends. But when the car shows, you go. Understood?" He stopped walking, and looked at Penny, who nodded enthusiastically before going to talk to Ruby. Alexander sent a message to the police chief about the event, who responded quickly that officers were already on their way to respond to the explosion. He looked up from his Scroll to see Blake walking over to him with her friend.

"Blake, strange to see you here, or your teammate Ruby, or your friend…I'm sorry, we haven't met. What's your name?" Alexander asked, extending a hand to the faunus, who took it and shook it with a hesitant smile.

"Sun Wukong." He said, and Alexander looked at him scrutinizingly for a few seconds before looking back at Blake.

"As far as the police will be concerned, Blake, you, your teammate, and your two friends were doing your civic duty to stop a crime in progress. But you need to stop digging into the White Fang. Leave that to me, alright? You won't accomplish anything other than dragging your friends into needlessly dangerous situations." Blake nodded her assent, and Alexander walked the pair over to Ruby and Penny, and all four sat down on some shipping crates to have a chat while Alexander waved down the cops when they showed up, directing them to where the White Fang were all lying, incapacitated.

Not long after that, Alexander was standing, talking to the police, when a car rolled up to the docks, right as Weiss and Yang walked up and joined their teammates, drawing them and Sun away while Penny was discretely rushed into the car that drove off the second the door closed.

"Hey, where's Penny?" Ruby asked, prompting Alexander to turn around.

"Penny's father was just here to pick her up. She didn't tell him where she was going, and as such, he was quite worried when I called him. Don't worry, she'll be quite fine, a mild scolding at worst." He said, walking over to the group, eyeing each of them quickly, his eyes narrowing slightly at the blonde monkey faunus.

"Mr. Wukong, I do believe you arrived here illegally." He said, and Sun shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

"Well, Vacuo doesn't do a great job of fostering a healthy respect of the law." He smiled roguishly, but Alexander refused to take the bait.

"Ah, but you haven't been to Vacuo in some years, have you? Family moved to Mistral what, two years back?" Alexander replied, smirking a bit, and Sun seemed to deflate a bit.

"Yeah, alright, I stowed away on a ship to get here. Just take me away already, would you?" He extended his wrists, and Alexander laughed.

"No way, kid. You saved Blake's ass tonight. That gives you at least one free pass in my book." Alexander laughed at the disbelieving looks on the five teenager's faces.

"Why do you know Blake?" Yang asked, looking bewildered.

"I'd tell you, but then Blake and I would have to kill you." He answered, with a mockingly serious look on his face that made Sun laugh.

"Nah, for real, though, I can't tell you. Blake could, but that's up to her. Excuse me, guys, have to go take care of something." He said, turning and walking off, leaving behind a frustrated and confused group of teenagers. As he walked away, he heard Sun talking to team RWBY.

"Who the hell is that guy!?"

…

Alexander held his Scroll in one hand, headphones over his ears as he lay down on his hotel bed, listening to what most people would find boring and annoying. Usually people hung up quickly when all they heard was the inside of someone's pocket, but Alexander had been listening to just that for an hour already. Another hour of listening to Roman walk around town eventually led to the sound of Roman pulling a large metal door open with a scrape. The sounds of his shoes lightly tapping against the ground reverberated off of the walls of the warehouse sharply. A clunk sounded, likely from Roman setting something down on a table. Another scrape and a clang came through as someone shut the door behind them.

"How very disappointing, Roman." A woman's voice said, as Roman exclaimed in surprise.

"Wasn't expecting to see you guys so soon." He said, and the woman responded immediately.

"We were expecting more from you…" She trailed off slightly.

"Hey, you were the one who suggested working with those stupid mutts from the White Fang." He seemed defensive. Alexander figured that he was probably talking to his employer, likely the one who attacked Amber.

"And you will continue to do so." The sound of a fire igniting filled his headphones, followed by the faint crackle of a sustained flame.

"We have big plans for you, Roman. All we ask is a little cooperation." The woman's voice was getting closer, the sound of the fire getting incrementally louder in the background.

"But first, let's make sure that no errant ears are listening in on things they shouldn't." She said, and the crackling got louder and louder, taking over the audio on his headphones.

And then, suddenly, nothing. Alexander cursed and pulled off his headphones, lips a thin line in his anger. He stood up from his bed, clenching and unclenching his fists when a message from Ozpin came through, forwarded from Qrow.

'Queen has pawns' was all it said, and Alexander ran his hands through his hair, letting out a long breath. He paced for a few minutes, muttering 'Fuck' to himself over and over. He took a few long breaths before he picked up his Scroll, shoving it in his pocket on his way out of his room.

…

The night sky of the city of Vale was a canvas of black peppered with the white speckles of stars. The moon shone bright, it's shattered pieces glowing with the same luminescence. Alexander, however, was not interested in the sky, but rather the ground beneath his feet. Earbuds blasted music against his eardrums as he walked through the backstreets of Vale seemingly aimlessly in a hoodie and jeans, the hood pulled up and the sleeves rolled to his forearms on the hoodie, the jeans long and frayed at the hem near his heel.

His eyes darted carefully around him, watching carefully as he turned off the main streets and started walking around the alleys. It wasn't long until he noticed people following him, their shadows occasionally entering his field of vision, though he made sure he didn't react at all, and kept walking. After about five minutes of walking, he saw what looked to be a small girl sitting in the alleyway. Her green hair and red eyes made Alexander smile as he crouched down in front of the girl, pulling his earbuds out and digging out his wallet.

"You all alone out here, little lady?" He asked, and extended the lien in his wallet towards the child, who smiled at him, reaching out for the money, but stopped when Alexander cocked his head slightly, and pulled back on his money a bit. He waited another second on bated breath, until he heard the unmistakable and near silent scrape of metal on leather that came when someone rested their hand on guns in a holster, a sound he himself heard every time he reached for his weapons. Alexander put his money back into his wallet, and put it back in his pocket with a sigh. He stood up slowly, hands up as he turned towards the sound.

"You know, your version of mugging is unnecessarily complicated and involved." He said into the darkness, noticing out of the corner of his eye as the girl dissolved into nothing. Out of the darkness of the alley, a girl with green hair and red eyes stepped, long-barreled revolvers leveled at Alexander's chest. Her hair was cut off just below her chin, and she wore an intricate white top over a cropped olive shirt. Brown chaps connected to a brown belt covered white pants, but both cut off just below her knees while she wore brown high heels on her feet. Alexander smiled when he recognized her, something that curled her lip in a snarl.

"How did you see through the illusion?" She asked, her fingers tensing on the trigger guards.

"Nothing is hidden, if you know where to look. The truth is out there, you only have to find it." He said, smiling wider when she snarled and someone behind her in the darkness had to stifle their laughter.

"What the hell does that even mean?" She asked, and he shrugged lazily.

"Maybe it means that you and your friend should be more stealthy." She snarled, and the laughter in the darkness was choked off suddenly.

"Oh, must have hit a chord. Sorry 'bout that. I should probably be on my way now, pleasure to meet you both." He turned to leave, but stopped when a bullet pinged off the concrete next to his foot. He slowly turned back to face the girl, hands still up in the air.

"Careful where you point those, lass. You might hurt someone." He snarked, his face completely flat and serious. She narrowed her eyes dangerously, her nostrils flaring.

"If you don't shut up, I think I'll make sure to hurt _you_. Answer my question. How did you know? How did you see through the illusion?" He shrugged noncommittally again, and started when another bullet shot right past his hip. He chewed his lip for a moment before he started talking, staring at the green haired girl intensely.

"Every semblance has a drawback, a limitation. Your illusion might be incredible visually, and draw _most_ of someone's attention, but that doesn't mean that they can't hear, smell, or see other things that are clearly out of place. If you really want to fool people, I'd recommend being mostly out of sight, out of earshot, and downwind from the target. Otherwise, there is always the chance that they are far better than you think they are." Alexander took a few slow, careful steps toward her as she thought, his hands slowly lowering. He heard her partner move in the darkness, and sprinted forward, ducking under the outstretched revolvers, and planting a fist into her stomach. The green-haired girl doubled over as her partner shot from the darkness in midair, foot outstretched, aiming for Alexander's head.

He grabbed and spun the still stunned girl, sticking a tracker to the inside of her holsters on her back, and pushed her in the way of her partner before turning and sprinting down the alleyway as the teenagers landed in a heap in the alley against a wall. Alexander heard them sprinting down the alleys behind him, and turned a corner quickly before opening the door to the first warehouse he saw, carefully shutting it behind him. He leaned against the door, a little out of breath, listening carefully as footsteps shot past the door, waiting a long few minutes before turning to lean his back against the door with a heavy exhale.

When he finally looked around the warehouse, he found it dark except for a single floodlight overhead shining down on a circular table, and a dozen or so people around a table, playing cards, all of whom were staring at him in various states of shock and confusion. He waved to them with a smile that only served to further confuse them.

"Lovely night for a run through the industrial district, I say. Have fun with your gambling." He turned and walked out through the door, and into the night, back towards his hotel room.

...

 **A/N: Hey all, glad you came back for this chapter. Thanks for the support for this story, it's super awesome to see the follows and favorites and whatnot in my inbox. As always, reviews are appreciated, and thanks to Bulba Fett for betaing. See you next time! Peace!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: We do not own RWBY in any way. This is a fan written story, obviously, and all rights belong to Rooster Teeth Productions. Please support the official release.**

…

Ch 10: Advanced Babysitting

…

"No one saves us but ourselves.

No one can and no one may.

We ourselves must walk the path"

-Buddha

"Be sure you put your feet in the right place,

Then stand firm"

-President Abraham Lincoln

…

 **Six Months Before the Battle of Beacon**

Two teenagers walked through the streets of Vale, one female with green hair that was cut off just below her chin, wore an intricate white top over a cropped olive shirt. Brown chaps connected to a brown belt covered white pants, but both cut off just below her knees while she wore brown high heels on her feet. The other, a male with slightly unkempt grey hair, wore long black pants and black boots. A two-tone zip up jacket had sleeves that cut off midway down his biceps, leaving his arms to be covered in vambraces and rerebraces. A grey sash hung from his belt on his right hip, depicting a black winged shoe.

The girl seemed to be pointedly ignoring the boy as they walked, despite his mouth running faster than the cars that cruised the streets. The girl seemed to be searching for something that she finally found, leading the boy into a bookstore named 'Tukson's Book Trade'. Inside was a fairly well-lit bookstore that, to someone else, would have felt welcoming. The teenagers split, the boy staying near the door while the girl approached the counter and rang the bell waiting there. After a moment, a man walked out, with dark hair and amber eyes. He wore a dark brown zip-up sweater over a white shirt, and dark brown pants. His cheeks and jawline were covered in thick sideburns, and when he leaned against the counter to talk to the girl, she saw that his sleeves were rolled up to his biceps, revealing muscular and hairy arms.

"Welcome to Tukson's Book Trade, home of every book under the sun. How may I-?" He said, with a deep voice that was filled with joy until he took a good look at the girl on the other side of the counter, his sentence stopping short. He leaned back from the counter, masking his suspicion with a smile.

"How may I help you?" He continued, after a moment of hesitation.

"Oh, just browsin'!" The boy called, slamming shut the book he was holding.

"Actually, I was wondering if you had any copies of 'The Thief and the Butcher'?" She asked, and Tukson nodded.

"Yes I do. Would you… like a copy?" He asked, and she shook her head.

"No, just asking for a friend. What about 'Violet's Garden', in paperback?" She said, leaning forward against the counter. Again, Tukson nodded his head, but didn't get a chance to respond before the boy called out again.

"He does! In hard copy, too!" Tukson's eyes narrowed when the girl smiled again.

"Oh, I do love options." She said, looking back at her friend, before swinging her head around to look at Tukson, leaning farther across the counter.

"What about 'The Third Crusade'?" She asked, and Tukson faltered for a moment.

"Uh, I don't believe we carry that one anymore." Her smiled widened dangerously, and her friend started backing towards the light switches next to the door.

"What is this store called again?" She asked, a glint in her eye.

"Tukson's Book Trade." He replied, and her tone got dangerous.

"And what's your catchphrase?" She asked. Tukson sighed.

He looked down with a heavy sigh before looking at her with a deadpanned expression. "Tukson's Book Trade. Home to every book under the sun." He monotoned.

"Except 'The Third Crusade'." The boy said, a menacing smirk playing onto his lips.

"It's just a catchphrase." Tukson grumbled, looking down a bit.

"It's false advertising!" He yelled back, mock anger heavy in his voice.

"You shouldn't make promises you can't keep, Tukson." The green haired girl said with a hint of mocking disappointment in her tone before setting her feet in a wide stance, her companion moving to dim the lights. "We heard you were packing up shop, moving _all_ the way to Vacuo." Her partner locked the door and began to black out the windows using the dial next to the door. "Your brothers in the White Fang wouldn't like that, would they Tukson?" And like that, the large store owner was beginning to sweat and back away from the counter, his eyes locked on the red orbs of the girl in front of him.

"You know who we are?" The girl asked with a cocky smirk once her partner moved up behind her, the windows were blacked and the room dimly lit by the lights coming from the doors behind Tukson and from his cash register.

Tukson opened his mouth to speak, but the doors behind him swung open, and Alexander walked out, in full military uniform, though he held his beret in his hands.

"Oh, sorry, was I interrupting something? A dramatic threatening that would end in violence, perhaps?" He said, smiling widely, though it didn't reach his eyes, which were like chips of ice, darting between the two teenagers.

"Mr. Tukson made a promise that he has no intention on keeping." The girl grit out, recognizing Alexander from the alleyway months ago. He stuck his lip out in a fake pout at her.

"Oh, you poor little girl. Don't worry, I'll just be taking Mr. Tukson here to get some cigarettes at the corner store. We'll send your daddy home if we run into him." She bristled immediately, and he saw her hands twitch to her weapons, and her friend take a step towards the counter. In a flash, Alexander had dropped his beret and drawn his pistols, pointing one at each of the teenagers. He clicked his tongue at them and they froze.

"Go home. You're not my problem today, but next time you try something like this again, you're not walking away." Both teenagers looked to be barely reigning in their anger, though the boy seemed to be doing a much better job. Alexander saw him eyeing him and Tukson up, likely trying to figure out the odds that he could take them before he huffed and turned to leave, the girl not far after him. The door closed behind them, the bell tinkling quietly. Tukson looked at Alexander with a grateful smile.

"Thank you so much." He said, and Alexander grunted in response.

"Don't thank me yet. You are still very much going to jail. How long you're there and how comfortable your stay is is entirely dependent on how much you can tell me about who those two are, what they're doing here, and what their involvement in the White Fang is."

…

"They certainly are an eyesore." Ozpin said, looking down at the Atlesian ships flocking around Beacon Academy from his office at the top of the tower. Glynda Goodwitch stood next to him, equally annoyed, but less reserved. Where Ozpin's ire was barely noticeable, Goodwitch's was palpable, her lips tight and eyes narrowed slightly as she glared at the ships. A beep from Ozpin's desk caused the two to turn around and look at the elevator doors which opened a second later. Ironwood walked in slowly, every step measured, a small smile on his face, his eyes darting around the room briefly before settling on Ozpin.

"Oz, it's been too long." He says, holding out a gloved hand to the Headmaster, who had walked around his desk. Ozpin grasped his hand with a strained smile.

"Perhaps not long enough, James, given the company you brought with you this time." He said quietly, and Ironwood's smile faltered minutely before he turned to greet Glynda, who had paused next to the two men.

"Glynda, always a pleasure to see you." He smiled genuinely. Glynda cocked an eyebrow at him, her lips pursed disapprovingly.

"I'm sure it is. Maybe if you didn't bring so many _friends_ , I'd be happier to see you." She said, scathingly, before turning and walking out, the elevator door closing behind her, Ironwood's smile falling. Ironwood turned back to Ozpin, who had sat back down behind his desk with a cup of coffee.

"You understand why I brought those men, right, Oz? We need them." He said, and Ozpin leaned forward, resting his forearms on his desk and steepling his fingers.

"Just because I know _why_ you brought them does not mean I agree with them being here, James. I was under the impression that, at most, we would see the _Yggdrasil_. Qrow's message is not an absolute. If it is true, we will handle it tactfully. But this is the Vytal Festival, James, a celebration of peace and unity, and bringing hundreds of men and women halfway across the world scares people." He was calm, unsurprisingly. In his entire life, Ironwood had never seen Ozpin be anything but unflappable.

"I'm just being cautious." There was a note of desperation in Ironwood's voice, just wanting the Headmaster to understand his concerns.

"As am I. Which is why we will continue to train the best Hunters we can." Ozpin replied, placatingly.

"You say that like I _haven't_ been doing that." Ironwood turned and walked to the elevator, but stopped halfway.

"Tell me this, Ozpin. Do you think your students are prepared to fight and win a war?" Ironwood said over his shoulder, before continuing on into the elevator, the doors sliding shut quietly behind him.

"I pray that they never have to." Ozpin said, to the empty office.

…

 **Four Months Before the Battle of Beacon**

Alexander walked into Ozpin's office, looking slightly battered and a bit worse for wear. His clothes, dark green denim shirt and dark brown cargo pants, had noticeable rips and tears in them. His hair was rumpled, and his beard was unkempt. Mud spattered his clothes, backpack and boots, and what looked like dried blood was splotched on his shirt. His scowl was immediately obvious, and his anger palpable as he stormed up to Ozpin's desk, behind which the headmaster sat, and Ironwood stood.

"What the _FUCK_ is going on in this fucking city! I leave for two months, and come back to hear that my girlfriend's sister and her team fought a stolen Paladin! Not to mention the White Fang meeting they crashed that got them chased by said Paladin!" Alexander stopped his tirade momentarily, glaring at Ozpin, who remained calm and emotionless.

"How did you not even know they were off campus?! Or that the Paladin had been stolen?!" He yelled, arms thrown out to the side, staring questioningly at the two leaders, who were still silent. His arms dropped back to his sides after a few moments of silence.

"Alright, fine. I get it. Not my place to question, apparently. But next time, I'd at least like a heads up before I get back." He was back to a normal level, and he looked resigned.

"Anyway. There were some White Fang in the ruins of Mountain Glenn, but I eliminated them. I didn't get much of a chance to look in the caverns, since there were too many Grimm, but I doubt that even if the White Fang went down there, that they would be able to get out easily. Unless, of course, they have some hidden entrance I couldn't see. Beyond that, some people should probably be sent to deal with the Grimm that are still hanging out. The White Fang attracted a whole mess of them while they were camping out in the ruins." Alexander said with a sigh, running his hands through his hair. Ozpin and Ironwood looked at him expectantly for his few seconds of silence.

"Alright. That's all. Now, if that's all, I would very much like to go take a shower and relax." He said, and turned to leave, but didn't even get a step in before Ozpin's voice stopped him.

"Actually, that's not quite all, I'm afraid." Alexander turned around, his face a picture of reluctance.

"And what exactly would you like me to do now, sir?" He asked, with forced politeness.

"Professor Port was supposed to lead team CFVY on their mission, but he unfortunately came down with an illness and is unable to accompany them at this time. However, team CFVY still need a Hunter to escort them on the mission in case the mission turns out poorly." Alexander raised his hand with a sigh.

"I get it. You need me to escort them. When do they leave?" Ozpin smiled wryly at him.

"They should be loading into the bullhead right now."

…

Coco Adel nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a loud banging from outside against the side of the bullhead where her and her teammates were sitting. The door flipped open, revealing a man that, at first, she thought looked a bit like they were homeless, until she looked closer, past the unkempt hair and beard, past the muddy clothes, and saw the patches of dried blood on their shirt, and the icy, suspicious eyes that immediately darted across her and her team, sizing them up in an instant, something she had only seen veteran Hunters do.

"Great. You haven't left. I'm your glorified babysitter for this mission. Name's Specialist Wallace, and I have spent the large part of the last two months sleeping in ruins. So, don't wake me until we get where we need to be." He said, throwing his bag into a seat before sitting down next to it, buckling in, and falling asleep almost instantly. Coco gaped at him as the door of the bullhead closed and she felt the aircraft take off.

"What the hell just happened?" She whispered, more to herself than anything, but Yatsuhashi managed to hear her.

"It would seem that Professor Port wasn't available to chaperone us. I believe that he was chosen as his replacement." He said, serenely, from his position on the floor in the lotus position, his eyes closed. Coco looked around to Fox and Velvet, who both looked slightly shaken, though Fox leaned back in his seat, and closed his eyes as well to try to sleep. After a moment, the female members of CFVY followed the lead of the males, falling asleep to the quiet drone of the bullhead's engines.

…

Coco was woken by the bullhead shaking, her eyes snapping open, and reaching out reflexively to steady her despite the seatbelt she wore. She looked around to see the rest of CFVY grabbing onto something to maintain balance, even Yatsuhashi, who had buckled himself into the seat next to Fox. Specialist Wallace, however, was on his feet, holding onto a handle dangling from the ceiling as he moved to a window in the door of the bullhead, looking out for a few seconds, before throwing himself backward, grabbing his backpack off it's seat with one hand, and wrapping a seatbelt around his other forearm.

Barely a second later, something slammed into the side of the bullhead, ripping the door off the bullhead, and taking some of the metal around it as well. Coco had to shield her eyes, looking away from the opening as air rushed past her quickly and violently. When she looked at the hole, she saw the engine on that side was smoking, and that the Nevermore that likely ruined the engine and ripped the door off was circling around for another attack. The pressure in the bullhead finally balanced out, Specialist Wallace stood up quickly, opening the other door, looking down at the ground rushing toward them. He turned around, and motioned for team CFVY to join him, which they did after a moment. He pointed to a large body of water below them.

"Jump out and land there! Soften your fall however you can, but even if you can't, your aura should allow you to live through the impact!" He said, bracing himself against the frame of the door before throwing himself out, falling out towards the lake. Fox and Yatsuhashi followed moments later, but Velvet hesitated.

"C'mon, Velvet, we've got to go!" Coco yelled, but Velvet still wouldn't move. Coco looked behind them and saw the Nevermore on it's way to hit the bullhead, and forcibly threw the rabbit faunus out of the door, before jumping out herself, a moment before the Nevermore hit the bullhead. The explosion caught her on her way down, and she saw metal screaming past her before something hit her head and everything went black.

…

She woke up to pain lancing through her body, and when she opened her eyes with a groan, it was to see that the ground around her had cratered violently, and she was at the bottom of said crater that was about a meter deep, and two and a half meters in diameter. Her aura sparked angrily as it tried to regenerate and help repair her injuries, but her fall must have shattered it. Coco slowly got to her feet, wobbling a bit, the heels of her boots sinking slightly in the dirt. She was looking around, slowly standing up to look over the lip of the crater, when she heard a growl. Not long after, several more growls answered it, and she saw the bone covered faces of Beowolves slowly surround her.

Coco looked for her bag around her, and her heart stopped as she spotted it, outside the crater. It lay in a small crater of its own that the Beowolves prowled past as they approached her step by step. She started looking around frantically for something to defend herself with when the Beowolves suddenly stopped, their sensitive ears picking up on the crack of thunder that shuddered through the air barely a heartbeat before she herself heard it.

A hole appeared through several of the Beowolves, and they wobbled a bit before slowly dropping to the ground, dissolving as they did so. A series of smaller cracks echoed around the forest and the pack looked around in confusion as their numbers started dropping quickly, holes opening up in them left and right, until the pack of Beowolves turned and fled into the forest. Coco finally climbed out of the crater, and walked over to pick up her bag, looking around for her savior. A minute or so later, a wet and angry Specialist walked out of the forest towards her, pistols holstered on his thighs, and what looked like a collapsed rifle slung diagonally across his back. He looked her over for a few seconds before walking off back into the forest, but stopped a few paces in, turning to look at Coco.

"Well, you coming or not?" He turned back around and continued walking, leaving Coco to jog after him, her body protesting angrily to the strain.

…

He led her through the forest for what felt like forever, but was probably no more than a few minutes, stopping every so often to scan the trees around them for something before leading Coco off in a direction, despite the fact that she could not figure out what he saw on the trees. Finally, they reached the edge of a lake, and followed the beach for another minute or so until they reached a small hut that had been constructed. She stepped in first to see the rest of her team huddled around a small but warm fire, all looking pretty wet and angry. Velvet immediately jumped up to hug her team leader, and Coco returned the embrace after a moment of surprise.

"I'm so happy you're okay!" The rabbit faunus said, and Yatsuhashi nodded his agreement from where he sat, while Fox, reserved as always, continued to warm himself by the fire. A cough brought her attention from her team to the Specialist in the doorway, who looked slightly uncomfortable.

"Sun's about to set, and you all need to rest and relax. Sleep here tonight, and we'll set out in the morning." He walked out the opening of the hut, and Coco slowly turned to face the rest of her team.

"Do you guys have any idea who he is? I've never seen him around campus before." She asked, and looked around at her team. Yatsuhashi just continued to sit there, which was about as close to admitting he knew nothing that she would get, while Fox simply shrugged. Surprisingly, it was Velvet whose shoulders tensed, and she folded her arms almost defensively.

"I didn't recognize him until I saw him fighting the Grimm." She said quietly, and Coco cocked her head questioningly.

"What do you mean?" Velvet didn't answer immediately, but she took a deep breath after a few seconds, and spoke slowly, as if each word was poison she didn't want touching her lips.

"I haven't seen my parents in a little over half a year, and for good reason. They were members of the White Fang, albeit their only real involvement was letting the White Fang have meetings in our basement. Most meetings I could usually catch some of what they talked about. Two things they always brought up every meeting were the Schnee family, and how to undermine them, and someone they simply called 'The Hunter'." Velvet stopped talking briefly, collecting herself.

"Then I got a call from one of my neighbors, telling me to turn on the news. I did, and I saw my father get thrown out on the front lawn by an Atlas Specialist, who zip tied my father's hands together before handing him off so he could go tear my house apart. It was Specialist Wallace. He fought the Grimm with the same brutal efficiency with which he and his men attacked my family and their friends." Velvet, for the first time since Coco had known her, looked angry, legitimately, uncontrollably, angry, and it scared her.

At a lack for anything to say, she just waited for Velvet to go sit down with the two boys, and turned around, citing a need for fresh air. She had barely walked ten feet when she almost jumped out of her skin when someone started talking next to her.

"Your friend is missing some key details." Specialist Wallace spoke quietly, his voice barely above a whisper. Coco looked around her for a few seconds, searching for the source of the voice, until she saw him, sitting in the branches of a tree, not far above head height.

"What do you mean?" She asked, tilting her head. He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

"There's two sides to every story, and rarely is either side completely right." She just stared at him for a few seconds, her face practically screaming her annoyance for her. He hopped out of the branches and motioned for Coco to follow him, which she did, albeit a bit reluctantly.

"I'm not proud of how we dealt with your friend's parents, but I do not regret it." He paused, seeming to collect his thoughts a bit.

"Hers was not the only house we raided, but it was the most successful raid that we had. See, for a decade at least, the White Fang has openly protested how the Schnee treat their workforce, especially the faunus. That does not make them wrong, and protesting itself is not even close to illegal. However, what her parents and their friends were doing was not a peaceful protest. Her parents house was the central hub for most of the White Fang activity that happened in Atlas." Coco looked at him, confused.

"What does that mean, really?" She asked, and he stopped walking, turning to look at her.

"It means that her parents were two of the people that helped plan the murders of Schnee executives, and almost half a dozen attempts on the lives of the Schnee family members themselves. Do you get it? Anyone we connected to her house that we could prove helped plan the attacks will never see the sun again. As it was, there are a lot of people, some of whom I am very close with, who firmly believe that everybody in that house should have been killed. So, frankly, though she may not have liked how I treated her parents and their friends, had it been any other Specialist leading that mission, she may well not have had any parents at all." Alexander spoke harshly, staring at Coco and her shell-shocked expression.

"Why aren't you telling _her_ this?" She asked, and he shrugged.

"I probably should. But, she has a specific image of her parents, and, contrary to what some believe, I do care about people. I don't want her taking that kind of hit, especially while we're on a mission. Maybe once we're back at Beacon I'll tell her, but while we're out here, I'd rather be dealing with her anger. At least that way I know where she stands. You understand?" He asked, and Coco thought it over for a few seconds before nodding begrudgingly.

"Good. Go back to the hut, get some sleep with your team. I'll start waking people when it's their turn for their watch."

…

The night passed uneventfully, and when they broke camp the next day, it was in the pale light of dawn, following Alexander through the trees. Fox walked next to him, Coco behind them with Velvet beside her, and Yatsuhashi bringing up the rear.

"So, what was your team's mission exactly?" Alexander asked, his voice low enough that Fox was the only one able to hear him as they trudged through some dense undergrowth.

"We are to defend a village from Grimm. They anticipate an attack soon, and need someone to repel it." He said, his blank white eyes staring straight ahead while Alexander nodded in understanding.

"How did your Vytal mission go last year?" Alexander asked, eyeing Fox carefully out of the corner of his eye.

"Simple recon mission. We are not incredibly skilled in those areas as Hunters, however, so it proved to be something of a challenge. We welcomed it. It was a taste of the part of the job that often goes unrecognized." From there, they walked in silence until mid afternoon, when they stopped for lunch. In the middle of lunch, Alexander looked up from doing inventory of his backpack, his lunch finished already, and leveled his gaze at Fox from across the small clearing where they had set up their temporary camp.

"How long have you been blind?" Alexander asked, and Coco, Velvet, and Yatsuhashi stiffened, looking carefully between the two.

"All my life." Fox said, quietly.

"And your semblance helps compensate?" Alexander asked, and Fox nodded.

"My aura pulses outward every tenth of a second, and relays information to me about the area around me within thirty yards." Alexander tilted his head a bit.

"So you _can_ see, just not in the conventional sense. Interesting." Alexander murmured, and Fox shrugged.

"I suppose."

…

They reached the village late the next day, emerging from the treeline to see a large lake. There was a single wooden bridge that extended from the bank to the floating city, which was also made entirely of wood, with high walls of wood surrounding the entire complex. As they made their way across the bridge, they saw people grouping up on the walls, watching their approach. A thin man with greying hair and a stressed expression hurried out to meet them right outside the doors of the city, wringing his hands worriedly.

"Hurry up, hurry up. You were supposed to be here yesterday. Ooooh, the mayor is not going to be pleased." He spoke hurriedly as he ushered them through the doors, two people shutting the doors behind them.

"Right, well, take us where we need to be then, man." Alexander said, quirking an eyebrow at the man. He led them through the town, past row after row of single story houses and stores until they reached the largest building by far. A single story like the rest, but wider and longer than the others by a fair margin.

"This is the town hall. I'll take you to the mayor's office right now. She has a meeting in a few minutes, but she'll postpone it for this." He said, more to himself than anything else as he led them through some hallways to the back of the building, where he knocked on a seemingly unassuming wooden door. When he opened the door a moment later, leading them in, however, it was revealed that while the door may have been simple, the room it hid was anything but. Wall to wall glass cases held and displayed pictures, souvenirs, and artifacts, likely brought back by the mayor herself from travels abroad. The desk was ornate, as was the chair behind it, while the ones in front were far simpler. A small table near the door was ringed by more simple chairs, while an antique tea set sat on the meticulously decorated tray on the fairly simple table.

The mayor rose to her feet, confusion written on her face, her pale green eyes honing in immediately on the weapons that they carried, and her expression cleared. She was a shorter woman, and in her younger years was a stunning beauty, if the pictures in the cases were any indication, and time had done little to dull that beauty. Well into her middle-age, her once forest green hair was streaked through with grey, and the laugh lines next to her eyes stood out like beacons. Small scars dotted and lined her arms, telling a tale of her hard fought journey through life. Her eyes locked onto Alexander's scar and tattoo almost immediately, looking between the two briefly, before extending her hand to clasp his.

"Glad you all made it safe and sound, albeit a few days late." She had a slow, deliberate way of speaking, and spoke softly. Alexander grimaced at her greeting.

"In a manner of speaking. Some of the Grimm you're worried about decided to assault our bullhead on the way here, and our pilots died in the crash." He replied, and she shook her head sadly.

"Such a tragedy. Well, I'm glad you're here. I don't anticipate that the Grimm will wait too much longer to attack, but I don't know for sure. We appreciate that you are willing to help us." She said, and Alexander nodded, turning on his heel, and leading CFVY out of the office. He walked them through the city back to the doors into and out of the city. He spent a minute or so silently looking around the doors, pacing back and forth on the ground and on the walkway above them before he finally stopped and motioned for Coco to join him.

"Alright, team leader. Your team, your call. Where would you put people to best defend the village?" He asked, once she was next to him.

"Are you helping?" She asked, and he shook his head.

"Only if you guys are about to fall. This is _your_ mission. Last year, you were shadowing a Hunter, but this time, I'm here only as a supervisor. So, what do you do?" He asked, and watched the wheels in her head turn for a few minutes. She pointed at their feet, still looking out at the beach.

"I stand here, shoot at the beach, try to get as many as possible. Anything that makes it to the bridge has to be dealt with by Fox, Yatsu, and Velvet." She spoke with little confidence, looking at Alexander for reassurance, smiling when he nodded.

"And why don't you want to shoot the bridge?" He prompted.

"Because my bullets could destroy it, and we don't want the civilians rebuilding the bridge into a beach of waiting Grimm." He nodded again.

"Good. I'll watch from here during the night, but during the day, all four of you will have to be here, ready to go at a moment's notice. Understood?" He asked, and when she nodded, he motioned for her to leave.

"Go. This is likely the last free time you'll have for the next few days. Take advantage of it." He said, and watched CFVY walk away into the village before turning to gaze at the treeline past the beach. He slung Uranus' rifle off his back, and looked down the scope, seeing a single pair of red eyes. A slow squeeze of the trigger later, and a loud crack exploded through the air as the eyes ceased to exist. Alexander slung the rifle onto his back again with a smirk.

"Assholes."

…

Two days later, Coco was standing on top of the wall when she saw shadows moving in the darkness of the forest. When dozens of red eyes started lighting up, gazing hungrily, she quickly turned and ordered the other three members of CFVY onto the bridge. A few moments later, Alexander joined her on the wall next to her, hands clasped behind his back.

"Have you four ever fought a horde?" He asked quietly, staring at the forest, but he saw Coco shake her head nervously.

"Well, today's as good day as any." He said, before falling silent once more, watching the beach just like her. Coco pressed a button on her bag, and it quickly morphed into her fifty caliber auto-loading, spinning barrel, machine gun. Alexander pulled a pistol from it's holster, and when a beowolf stepped out onto the sand, a bullet took it's head off immediately.

"Good luck." Alexander said, and Coco didn't have a chance to reply as Beowolves started streaming from the treeline, and she started firing, the slight vibration of her gun running through her body as her bullets ripped through the Grimm, kicking sand up into the air, obscuring her vision slightly. A large majority fell before they even reached the bridge, but those that survived were taken care of by Fox, Yatsuhashi, and Velvet, who, despite their leader's best efforts, were still fighting a steady stream of Grimm. Alexander watched with a straight face until he saw shadows on the horizon that made him curse.

"Keep firing on the beach. Leave the Nevermores to me." He unslung Uranus' rifle off his back, and, looking down the sight, counted thirteen Nevermores.

"Motherfuckers. Can't fight fair." He muttered, pulling the trigger, smirking when one of the Nevermores dropped from the sky following the crack of thunder, screaming, flailing, and spinning as it dissolved into ash on the way down. He kept squeezing the trigger, watching the Nevermores fly closer and closer, dropping one after the other. Finally, there was only one Nevermore left, and when Alexander pulled the spent magazine out, it pulled to a halt before flapping its wings, sending a hail of deadly sharp feathers flying towards the bridge. A heartbeat later, the Nevermore dropped, a head sized hole punched straight through its torso.

The hail of feathers caused the members of CFVY on the bridge to dive and dodge around the deadly hail coming for them, and Fox took a nasty smack from an Ursa that threw him onto his back, sliding a few feet, before Yatsuhashi ended the Ursa with a single slash. Alexander waited a few seconds for Fox to get back on his feet before he slung the rifle back onto his back, and continued watching. The Grimm assault was constant, a steady stream of black and white peppered with red emerging from the cloud of sand that was constantly refreshed by Coco's bullets. He watched CFVY slowly get more and more tired, Coco's arms starting to shake from the effort of holding her machine gun for this long. The team on the bridge started to look fatigued, sweat dampening their clothes, clinging to their hair and dripping from their faces. They started to take more and more hits, gradually slowing down, unable to dodge Grimm strikes anymore.

Finally, the horde of Grimm started to thin, and a minute or so later, the members on the bridge were fighting the last few beasts. Everything looked fine until a wild swipe from a Beowolf caught Velvet under her chin, breaking her aura, and throwing her into the lake. Alexander ripped the rifle off his back, dropping it next to his pistols on the walkway, kicking off his boots as he ran before diving off the top of the wall, slicing into the water next to the bridge as the last Grimm got it's head cut off by Fox. The water of the lake was dark and cold, but not quite cold enough to be dangerous. It the darkness, it was hard to find the rabbit faunus, but the sunlight breaking through glinted off the gold armor that Velvet wore, and Alexander grabbed her hand before dragging her up to the surface with him.

When they broke the surface, Velvet gasped for air, her eyes snapping open, having squeezed them shut reflexively when the Beowolf hit her. He guided her over to the bridge, where they were both helped up by the other members of CFVY, dripping water onto the bridge. Alexander stood silently for a moment before walking off while the members of CFVY fussed over their faunus member.

Alexander came back a few minutes later with dry clothes on, carrying his weapons once again. He looked out across the bridge, looking at the forest carefully, spotting a few red eyes waving through the encroaching darkness. He put a hand on Coco's shoulder, making her follow his gaze to the forest.

"Look alive, guys, we're not done yet." She said, and the members of CFVY moved back to their positions, the three sitting down cross legged on the bridge, watching the forest while Coco rushed to the wall. For a few minutes, they just sat there, watching, until Alexander walked out with a brown paper bag onto the bridge and threw it at Fox.

"There's your dinner. Sleep in shifts, with two people awake at all times, alright? You'll need the rest, but you also have to stay vigilant." He walked away, leaving them to eat their dinner, instead joining Coco on the wall, where she was finishing the second of the sandwiches he had gotten for her.

"This fucking sucks." She muttered, glaring at the Grimm slinking around in the forest.

"Waiting is always the worst part." Alexander said, and she looked at him, expecting him to elaborate, but he didn't.

"Get some rest, lass. I'll wake you if you're needed." He said, and she nodded, lying down on the wood of the walkway while Alexander leaned against the wall, his eyes watching carefully through the darkness.

…

The next few days went similarly to the first. Around mid afternoon, the Grimm would stream from forest, rushing for the village, only to be rebuffed time and again by the efforts of team CFVY while Alexander watched, ready to step in if one of them made too large of a mistake. Fortunately, nobody made too large of a misstep, and Alexander didn't have to step in to stop anything too bad from happening. On the fourth day, Alexander noticed a significant drop in the Grimm that were assaulting the village, though he doubted any of the four students noticed until the next day, when there was almost no Grimm attacking. They spent another day there, during which no Grimm came out of the forest, and Alexander called a bullhead for them. On their eighth day in the village, and their eleventh day outside Beacon, their bullhead finally took off, leaving the small village behind.

Team CFVY slept almost the entire flight back, only waking up when the bullhead hit some turbulence about ten minutes out from Beacon. They waited silently as the bullhead landed, disembarking into what looked like a massive crowd of students.

"Ah, they must be done choosing their missions. Happy you got yours out of the way?" Alexander remarked, watching the students mill about. Coco shrugged her shoulders.

"It made us miss the dance, which I'm not exactly happy about." She said, and Alexander looked at her for a few moments before nodding.

"Well, you guys did really well. I'll go talk to Ozpin, see what I can't do about getting you guys a few days off from classes as a reward." He said, walking off, disappearing almost immediately into the crowd of students, leaving Coco to stand in confusion before Fox's hand on her shoulder brought her back to her senses.

"Is something wrong?" Fox asked, and Coco shook her head.

"No, actually, I think I'm really glad Port couldn't make it to our mission."

…

"Team RWBY is going to Mountain Glenn." Ozpin said, his head raising to meet Alexander's gaze as he walked in. The Specialist nodded, continuing to approach Ozpin's desk.

"Thanks for keeping me up to date." He replied, and Ozpin shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

"Well, anyway, CFVY was able to rebuff the Grimm assault, though they did work themselves half to death in the process. I recommend that you let them take a few days off of classes so they can recharge. They deserve it." Alexander said, and Ozpin thought for a few seconds before nodding.

"That should be fine, but I'll have to give it a bit more thought. I'll talk to them tomorrow. Is that all?" Alexander nodded, and walked all the way to the door before stopping.

"What landing pad does RWBY take off from?" He asked.

"Pad four. They're leaving with Oobleck in a half hour, from what I understand."

…

Alexander waved to Oobleck as he approached the landing pad, the historian throwing him a jovial wave back before he chugged more coffee, taking a last inventory of everything in his backpack. Alexander walked over to meet team RWBY, who were just leaving the company of team JNPR, Sun Wukong, and a boy with blue hair that Alexander didn't recognize. Alexander ran over, and lay a hand on Weiss' shoulder, causing her to turn to look at him. Her initial annoyance evaporated almost immediately when she recognized him.

"Be careful." He said, and when she opened her mouth, he raised his hand to stop her.

"I know you can take care of yourself, but your sister and I have seen what can happen when a mission goes wrong, and it would destroy us if something bad happened to you. I almost killed your father when you got this." Alexander said, lightly poking the end of her scar. Her expression softened, and she nodded.

"I'll be careful." She said.

"That's all I ask for. Good luck." He said, waving to her as she got on the bullhead, shooting Blake a salute that she returned with a small smile, and turned to walk away.

…

A little over a day and a half later, just before dawn, Alexander was woken up in his hotel room by the loud ringing of his scroll. He picked it up and saw a picture of Weiss on the screen, and answered quickly.

"Weiss, is something wrong?" He asked, and sat up in his bed when all he heard was static. After a few seconds, the call dropped, simply static. Alexander shot out of bed, dressing quickly, grabbing his weapons, and calling Ozpin.

"C'mon, Oz. Pick up." He muttered, pumping his fist when the headmaster finally answered.

"Yes, Specialist?" He asked, as Alexander walked out his door.

"I just got a call from Weiss. Something went wrong with their mission. I don't know what, I don't know how, but something went wrong. I'll be at Beacon in less than an hour, and I suspect I'll need, at the very least, to borrow team CFVY from you for a little bit." He said, and heard Ozpin sigh on the other end.

"I will see you here soon, Alexander, and we will discuss this then." He said, hanging up, and leaving Alexander cursing at his Scroll when the elevator door opened, revealing an old woman, who looked at him in shock. He glared at the old lady.

"Oh, c'mon, I bet you've said worse, you old bird. Don't look so offended."

…

Alexander stormed into Ozpin's office in a fury, his anger palpable. The headmaster sat behind his desk, calm as ever, watching the angry Specialist walk up to him, completely unfazed.

"What the hell, Ozpin? Do you not believe me?" He asked, and Ozpin shook his head.

"It's not that, Alexander. I know that you are probably right, and that something has probably happened to them. However, I also know that team RWBY performs exceptionally in the field, and that Oobleck, while he may not seem it, is also incredibly capable. I fully believe that they will be able to make it through whatever problems they have run into." Alexander's anger now slightly abated, he pursed his lips, thinking through what he wanted to say.

"I understand that everyone on that mission is incredibly capable. That's not my issue. My issue is that Weiss absolutely would _not_ have called me unless it was dire. They're skilled, yes, but Weiss is very proud, and for her to call _me,_ for her to admit that she's in over her head, takes something seriously bad." Right as Alexander finished talking, he spotted a massive plume of smoke rising from the center of Vale, causing him to rush over to the window behind the Headmaster, Ozpin following him, barely a step behind. For a brief second, neither did anything, until a klaxon alarm started blaring, shocking them both into action. Alexander sprinted towards the elevator, pulling out his scroll as he ran. Ozpin, behind his desk, did the same thing, and their hurried chatter quickly filled the airspace of the office.

"I need all birds off the ground. Send them to defend Vale. We have a Grimm assault." Alexander said before stepping into the elevator, riding it down. When he reached the ground level, he had finished talking, and sprinted out across the grounds of Beacon. A minute or so later, he reached the landing pads right as team CFVY and Professor Port loaded into a bullhead. Fox's semblance must have sensed his approach, because the ginger reached out a hand, stopping the door from closing long enough for Alexander to jump in.

"Cheers, Fox." Alexander said, taking a brief look around the cargo bay of the bullhead, inclining his head to Professor Port.

"Professor Port, been a while, good to see you though." He said, and the man laughed heartily.

"Indeed, my boy, it is good to see you as well, though I wish our reunion was under more favorable circumstances." His boisterous voice filled the cargo bay before the bullhead faded to silence, but for the drone of the engines. A few minutes later, the bullhead stopped in the air, lowering a bit, and the gullwing doors opened up. Team CFVY jumped out one side, Port and Alexander the other.

When they landed, Alexander quickly dashed for the nearest Grimm, drawing his pistols as he did so. The Beowolf took a swipe at him as he neared it, but Alexander dropped into a slide, firing his pistols as he slid between the Grimm's legs, shooting to his feet as the Beowolf fell to the ground, turning to smoke as it did so. He spun his pistols as another Beowolf attacked him, ducking under a swiping paw, and slamming the ends of his escrima sticks into it's stomach, discharging the electric dust. The Beowolf was blown off it's feet, flying easily a dozen feet backward, slamming into a few other Grimm on it's way down before it turned into smoke, giving Alexander enough room to take aim with both pistols and start eliminating Grimm with prejudice until he heard an Ursa run at him from behind.

Holstering his pistols and taking off at a sprint, Alexander heard the Ursa chasing him as he shot towards a wall. Planting a foot into the wall, he flipped up onto the head of the Ursa as it slashed again, taking a chunk out of the stonework. His weight pushed the Ursa's head down before it pushed up again, and Alexander used it as a springboard, jumping off at the top of it's buck, throwing him into the air. While he was in the air, Alexander unslung Uranus' rifle and put a shot through the Ursa's head.

The recoil of the shot kept him up in the air for a few moments longer, and in those moments, Alexander spun, took aim, and put a shot through the head of a King Taijitu that was slithering out of the hole in the ground that the Grimm were pouring through. When he landed, Alexander tucked into a roll, and came up with the rifle pointed at the hole again. He took another shot and dropped a Creep before Goodwitch waved her riding crop, and all the rubble around the hole in the ground floated up into the air before the train was forced down into the hole, and the concrete and stone assembled together to cover up the breach.

He straightened up, slinging Uranus' rifle across his back as he walked over to where one Roman Torchwick was lying on the ground, having been thrown through a hole in the train when it crashed. Alexander leaned down, and grabbed the front of his shirt, pulling him up onto his feet with a smirk.

"Hey, asshole, long time no arrest." He said, and Roman rolled his eyes.

"Really? That's the best you could come up with?" He asked, and Alexander shrugged his shoulders.

"Don't really come up with one liners when I'm only dealing with cannon fodder." Alexander snarked, before pushing Roman by the back of his jacket to a bullhead, where Atlesian knights were waiting.

"Roman Torchwick, you are under arrest for conspiring with a terrorist organization, committing an act of terror, attempted murder, and actual murder. You will be charged with murder for any deaths that resulted from this invasion." Alexander handed the slightly pale faced thief off to the Atlesian knights as he turned and looked around the square. As he was standing, he caught sight of what he thought was a red dress and black glass heels. He whipped his head to look for it, but couldn't find it, and brushed it off as a trick of the eyes. When he looked back, he saw Weiss leading the rest of team RWBY over to him, a tired smile on her face.

"I knew you'd be here." She said, and he smiled.

"I do always seem to show up right when you Schnees are in greatest danger." He replied, and she barely stifled her laughter, something that made Ruby look at her with no small amount of shock.

"So, how do you know the Ice Queen?" Yang said, jabbing a thumb in Weiss' direction, while said Ice Queen looked indignant.

"I live with her older sister Winter. We've been dating for about three and a half years, but I've known the two of them much longer." Alexander said with a smile, while the half sisters looked at Weiss in shock.

"You never told us you have a sister!" Ruby yelled, and Weiss huffed exasperatedly.

"You never asked." She said, as if were obvious.

"Well, I'm glad to see you all safe, but I have to get going. I need to talk to a few different people about a lot of different things. Weiss, I do want to catch up, give me a ring when you're free, okay?" He said, and when Weiss nodded, he looked pointedly at Blake, who nodded as well, before he started walking away.

…

"Oz, I wanted to apologize. I was freaking out a little bit earlier." Alexander said, scratching the back of his head as he walked into Ozpin's office. When he didn't hear a response for a long while, he looked up to see Ozpin spun around, staring out the window of his office.

"Something up, Oz?" He asked, and the Headmaster spun around in his chair, looking displeased.

"The council has appointed General Ironwood as head of security for the Vytal festival." Ozpin said, staring down at the coffee in his hands.

"That's foolish of them." Alexander said, crossing his arms. Ozpin's head shot up to look at him, confusion written across his face.

"Anyone with half a brain can see that all Ironwood is going to do is bring more troops down. Not that there's much anybody can do, but it's all he can do to at least _look_ like there's literally _anything_ anyone can do. That's the problem with terrorist organizations, right? Unless we happen upon something by pure luck, there's no real way to predict what they're going to do next with any realistic accuracy." Ozpin nodded.

"Indeed, though it does not help the fact that he has been reporting to Vale's council for several months about my actions." He said, and Alexander shrugged.

"I'm not here to make excuses for him. He's his own man, and I don't always approve of what he does. But he is still doing what he thinks is right. That has to count for something." Alexander said, and Ozpin hummed thoughtfully.

"Well, I've got to get going, Oz. I've said what I came to say." Alexander said, but stopped halfway to turning to the door when Ozpin held up a hand.

"Come back here later. I want to talk to you about Autumn's condition." He said, and Alexander nodded, looking grim.

"I'll be back around midnight, I think."

…

Alexander took a deep breath before dialing a number, standing on one of Beacon's landing pads for bullheads, eyes watching everything around him carefully. After a few seconds of silence, he heard ringing, and a few seconds after that he heard someone pick up with a gruff 'hello?'

"Qrow, good, you picked up." He said, and said man cut him off quickly.

"Alexander? What's wrong? Why are you calling? Is Autumn worse?" He asked all of these in quick succession, and Alexander waited for a few seconds to make sure he was done before the Specialist spoke.

"Nothing is wrong as of now, though something terrible is going to happen. I'm not sure what, when, or how, but I know it's going to happen here at Beacon. Those two teenagers that were with the woman that attacked Autumn? They're both here. I don't know where their boss is, but I'm sure she's here as well. You need to get back here to Beacon as soon as possible. We're going to need everybody, I'm sure of it." Alexander said, and he heard Qrow curse under his breath.

"I'm really out here in the boonies, right now, Alexander. I need at least a month to finish up here, and another month to get out. Until I get back, just hold out, alright? What else is happening?" He asked, and Alexander looked around for a second before taking a deep breath, preparing himself for Qrow's outrage.

"Ironwood has been sending reports to the Vale council for the past few months, and through a combination of those reports, and the Breach that happened a few days ago, the council has seen fit to appoint Ironwood as head of security for the Vytal festival." He heard Qrow's growl of anger over the scroll.

"That no good lousy, traitorous… AH!" He yelled, and Alexander pulled the scroll away from his ear in shock, wincing. After a few seconds of loud and colorful cursing, as well as what sounded like a lamp shattering, Alexander brought the scroll back up to his ear.

"What exactly does that mean, then?" Qrow asked.

"It means, among other things, that three additional cruisers are going to be joining his flagship _Yggdrasil_ here in Vale. That in itself means thousands more infantrymen, and thousands more Atlesian Knights on top of that, at _least_." Alexander said, and he could practically hear Qrow's mind spinning as he thought about the repercussions.

"Alright. I'll get back to Vale as soon as I can. Don't you go anywhere. Between Ozpin getting neutered by the council, and my general distrust for Ironwood, I think that the two of us will be doing a lot of the heavy lifting to prepare for whatever is going to happen." Qrow's harsh tone made Alexander wince slightly.

"Alright. I'll be here, Qrow." He said, and hung up with a heavy sigh, looking out at the lights of Vale, lit up even at this time of the night, before turning to head towards Ozpin's tower.

…

Ozpin and Alexander stood in front of the pod that Amber lay in, grim looks on their faces. The pale green lighting of the vault did nothing to help the mood of the room, casting strange shadows all around them.

"She has not been getting better." Ozpin said, and Alexander huffed.

"Well, yeah, no shit. You wouldn't call me down here if she was making a miraculous recovery." Alexander snarked, drawing a deadpan look from the headmaster, which he shrugged off.

"Nonetheless. Given her current condition, I think we need to start planning for the worst case scenario. As the person who was closest to Amber, I thought that you should have some input on who we try to get to replace her." Ozpin said, and Alexander shook his head in disgust.

"This whole thing feels so wrong. Stealing some of a soul, talking about transplanting souls into people… This whole thing is so _fucked up_." He said, looking at Amber with pained eyes while Ozpin stood quietly, watching the Specialist. After a while, Alexander took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as he looked at Ozpin.

"Pyrrha Nikos. She's the best one to replace Autumn." Alexander said, and Ozpin nodded.

"That was what I thought as well. We will approach Miss Nikos should the situation require, and hope she says yes." Ozpin said, and Alexander looked at him disbelievingly.

"She's not going to say no."

…

 **Three Months Before the Battle of Beacon**

"Have you talked to her?" Alexander asked, looking across the table to Weiss, who nodded. It was a rare day off for the Specialist in the middle of preparing for the rest of the Atlesian force that would be arriving in just over a month. He wore a short sleeved black shirt and black jeans, with dark reflective aviators resting on top of his head. His face was free from stubble, the thick white scar across his cheek standing out and drawing more than a few glances from the other patrons of the coffee shop. A new addition, to his person, however, was the line of Ancient Atlesian runes that wrapped around his right forearm just below the elbow that, to those that could read it, said 'Light in Darkness', with the letters 'W, W, B, A, Q' below the line of runes.

"Yes, though she seemed, _colder_ that she has in the past." She said, looking legitimately worried. Alexander smiled sadly at her.

"You hurt her a lot, but she still really cares about you. Remember, however mad she may seem, she is very proud that you are doing well, very happy that you are enjoying this, and ultimately still very worried. You're her little sister. That will always mean a lot to her. But, if you see her before I do, give me a call so I can be there." He said, and she smiled slightly, about as close to actual laughter Weiss would actually get while out in public.

"You always were good at thawing her out, softening her up." Alexander smiled, giving her a mischievous smirk.

"Oh, Snowflake, I would be careful about accusing your sister of being cold. You're not exactly warm and cuddly yourself." He said, and she scowled a bit.

"Though you are much better than you used to be. I'm glad that you like your team." He said, and her uncharacteristic smile almost caught him off guard.

"Yes, well, it did take some time for me to come around." She said, and he smiled.

"Admit it, you hated them." Her slight blush told him all he needed to.

"Well, I didn't understand them the way I do now. I thought that Ruby was some hyperactive girl who got let in too early, that Yang was a brute who didn't know when to be serious, and that Blake was standoffish, and slightly rude. Now I know that their first impressions aren't _really_ who they are." Alexander smiled wider, leaning forward slightly.

"And who are they, really?" He asked, and she looked down at her hands, a small smile spreading across her face.

"They're the best friends I could have ever asked for."

…

Later that day, Alexander was walking to his hotel room when he heard someone join him, walking just outside his periphery. The almost inaudible tapping of heels tipped him off to who it was, and he smiled.

"Have your teammates asked you to wear a bell, yet, Blake?" He asked, and she took a few quick steps, walking into his eyesight.

"They may have mentioned it once or twice." She said, and he chuckled.

"Well, tell them to clean out their ears. _I_ can hear you just fine." He said, and spied a curling of her lips into a smirk.

"Just you and my mother." She said, and he shrugged.

"Nothing wrong with that. The only two people that can reliably keep track of you are your mother and an Atlesian Specialist whose job description literally includes finding people that nobody else can. It's a testament to your skills in stealth, really." He said, and she laughed quietly.

"Does Weiss know that we know each other?" He asked, and he saw her shrug.

"She probably suspects, but after what happened when I told them about my being a faunus, I don't think she wants to pressure me into saying anything, especially since my past is already obviously… checkered." Blake said, and Alexander nodded his understanding.

"You should probably tell her, maybe tell your whole team while you're at it. If you're comfortable with it, that is. I am literally legally not allowed to tell them, but you should feel free to tell anyone anytime you feel ready." He said, and he saw her nod.

"I might just do that." She whispered, more to herself than anything else, but Alexander heard her, and was sure she knew he heard her.

"Do you like your team?" He asked, and smiled when she nodded.

"I wasn't sure about them initially, especially Weiss, but after a little while I've grown to really trust them." She said, and he watched her carefully out of the corner of his eye.

"Then I think they should know. Besides helping bridge the gap between you and Weiss, it will help build trust from Yang and Ruby. And who knows. Maybe when they trust you enough, they'll open up about some of the things that they struggle with, and some of the hardships that they've faced." He said, and she eyed him a bit suspiciously.

"Why do I always feel like you know far too much?" She asked, and he gave her a sad smile.

"This is something that worked with my team. Once we started trusting each other, we started telling each other things, which of course only served to strengthen the trust that was already there. But that's not really what you asked about." He said, and stopped walking, looking up at the overcast sky. He took a deep breath and breathed it out slowly before he looked at Blake.

"I've seen a lot in my relatively short life so far, Blake. Some of which I wish I hadn't, like Grimm abominations, or friend's deaths. Some of which I wouldn't want to forget if I was offered the world, like my first real mission with my team during our second year, where we were assigned a Grimm hunt on the small island of Patch. We were escorted by one of the happiest women I have ever met, her husband is and was an incredible man, and their two daughters were adorable. No matter how many times their mother and father said they didn't want them to, the two girls would talk endlessly about how much they wanted to be Huntresses. They wanted to travel the world, saving the damsels in distress, killing Grimm, and getting involved in huge missions to save humanity." He spoke quietly, but his words struck a chord with the girl, who looked shocked. He smiled sadly when the recognition flashed in her eyes.

"They were still pretty young the last time I saw them face to face, so I wasn't surprised when, years later, a friend of mine went to visit the family, and told me that the girls didn't remember me. I was sad that two fewer people would remember being a part of one of _my_ favorite memories, but oh well. I'm glad to see that the four of you care so much for each other. Reminds me of my own team." He said, and when his smile widened at the end of his little speech, it was a smile of genuine joy and happiness. He kept walking away, turning to look at her as he did so, so he was walking backwards away from her.

"I wish you the best of luck, Blake. You've got a good thing going with your team. Hold onto that for as long as you can."

…

Blake walked into the room she shared with team RWBY, well after dark, a pensive look on her face that Yang immediately spotted from her top bunk, where she was lying down, playing a game on her phone, while Ruby and Weiss were studying together at the desk next to the door. The blonde jumped down from her bed with a thud, cocking her head questioningly at Blake.

"Something wrong, Blake?" She asked, and Blake didn't answer for a long second.

"No, nothing's wrong. I want to talk to you guys about something." She said, looking up at the brawler, who looked over at Weiss and Ruby, both of whom looked as confused as Yang.

"Okay, what's up, Blake?" She asked, and Blake looked shockingly nervous as she walked to sit down on the edge of her bed.

"I want to talk to you guys about the White Fang." Weiss' mouth opened to say something, but she thought better of it quickly, and shut it after a moment.

"What about the White Fang?" Ruby asked, looking concerned. Blake laced her fingers together on her lap, staring at her hands as she spoke.

"I left my home on Menagerie to join the White Fang without the knowledge of my parents. I knew that my father would hire someone to try to find me, but I had faith that I would be able to outsmart whoever he sent, and hide from them, especially since I didn't stay in Menagerie, but instead came to Vale. Unfortunately, my father managed to get the one person who would have found me if I had literally tunnelled to the bottom of the ocean." She said, and Weiss' eyes widened in shock, her suspicions finally confirmed.

"Alexander." She said, slightly breathily, still a bit shocked. Blake nodded.

"Specialist Wallace found me, I was told by my father, several days shy of two weeks after my father asked him to find me. But he didn't just find me. He and a friend of his managed to get the drop on me not even twenty feet from a highly populated White Fang camp. When he confirmed that I would not, in fact, be going back home without being forced, he offered me a decision. Either I help inform him of various White Fang plots, and face at least a decreased prison sentence, if not a clean record outright, or if and when I get arrested for corroborating with the White Fang, I go to prison. Even then, when I thought that the White Fang was still doing the right thing, it wasn't a difficult choice." She said, and almost didn't look up in fear of finding disgust on teammates faces. Instead, she found Yang and Ruby smiling proudly at her, and Weiss looking at her in a new light.

"So, for the vast majority of the time that I was with the White Fang, I would give Alexander as much information about what the White Fang was doing as I could manage, telling him locations of safe houses and camps, and generally doing all I could to undermine the group that I had started to realize was no longer a rights group, but rather a terrorist organization that was rapidly militarizing. The last time he asked me for information he told me that he owed me a few really big favors. But, at the time, I didn't really realize the scope of what he could do if he pulled the right strings." She said, and Weiss looked at her, shocked.

"He's how you got into Beacon." The heiress said, and Blake nodded, making Ruby and Yang look between the two of them in shock.

"He can do that?" Ruby asked, and Weiss smiled proudly sitting up a bit straighter.

"Alexander is on very close terms with Headmaster Ozpin and besides my sister, there is nobody that General Ironwood trusts more than Alexander. I have no doubt that he could get most anyone he wanted into Beacon. The fact that Blake could easily get in without his recommendation I'm sure made her an obvious choice." Weiss said, and Yang looked at her for a long second, a searching look on her face, while Blake looked slightly shocked and embarrassed by Weiss' compliment.

"Did he get _you_ into Beacon?" Yang asked, and Weiss shook her head.

"No, but I was able to apply normally, a luxury I don't think Blake was afforded, living with the White Fang in the wilderness as she was." Yang nodded in understanding, but it looked like something was bothering her.

"What're you thinking, Yang?" Ruby asked, and Yang waved her hand dismissively, a wide smile forcibly plastered on her face.

"Ah, don't worry about it. Just something I realized I want to talk to Specialist Wallace about." She said, and everybody but Blake jumped a moment later when said Specialist spoke from the doorway.

"Well, you'll have plenty of time to do that. Professor Ozpin and General Ironwood want me to take you four out on a mission tomorrow." He said, before adding offhandedly, "You guys were supposed to go on a mission with Port and Oobleck to the Emerald Forest, but Oz shifted some teams around at my request, so I've got you guys now, and the good Professors get JNPR." Weiss smiled, as did Blake, while Ruby immediately fell into leader mode.

"What will we be doing?" She asked, her face far more serious than earlier, something that made Alexander smile.

"Oz wants me to take you guys out to learn how to do protection detail. It's a larger part of a huntsman's life than you would think. We'll be meeting our charge tomorrow in a village in the Forest of Forever Fall. You accept the mission?" He asked, and Ruby nodded.

"Fantastic. I will see you all tomorrow, then. Get a good night's rest. Given how often you four manage to find the worst trouble, you'll need the rest."

…

 **A/N: Hey everyone, hope you all liked the chapter. Thanks as always, to Bulba Fett, a great friend and beta. Thanks for reading, and if you're so inclined, I would really appreciate a follow, favorite, and review. They make me feel warm and happy inside. See you guys next chapter. PEACE!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: We do not own RWBY in any way. This is a fan written story, obviously, and all rights belong to Rooster Teeth Productions. Please support the official release.**

…

Ch 11: Trust

…

"The only way to make a man trustworthy,

Is to trust him."

-Henry L. Stimson

"Life for you has been less than kind

So take a number, stand in line

We've been sorry, we've all been hurt

But how we survive is what makes us who we are"

- _Survive_ by Rise Against

"Slip out the back before they knew you were there

And at the worst, you'll see nobody cares

Cause you don't wanna be around when it all goes down

Even heroes know when to be scared"

- _Slip Out The Back_ by Fort Minor

…

 **Three Months Before the Battle of Beacon**

"Right. So, here's the skinny." Alexander said, arms crossed, standing in front of the open gull wing doors of a bullhead in his full Atlesian uniform, Uranus' rifle slung over his shoulder, and his pistols holstered on his thighs, looking at Team RWBY in front of him.

"You all have been hired by the Atlas military. It was originally only supposed to be me, but given the relative ease of this mission, I figured we could accomplish a few things at the same time if I brought you all along. We're escorting an Atlesian as they inspect several villages out in the boonies, make sure that they are properly defended. That's what we've been hired to do. In reality, one of you will be with the Atlesian and I at all times, while the other three go to try to cull the amount of Grimm in the area around the village, and our paths through the forest. You also all get to have my certification that you know how to do escort missions, letting you take these missions with limited or no oversight in the future. Make sense to you all?" He asked, and when the four girls nodded to him, he smiled.

"Well, no point just standing around then. Hop on up." He said, and the loaded into the bullhead, the pilot of which waited for the door to close behind Alexander before taking off.

…

The bullhead took off behind them once they had disembarked, standing on the edge of a medium sized village. The walls around it were a pale grey stone, and a wooden gate in one wall was the only way in or out of the city. Though not even close to Oasis, it was still a formidable defensible position. Alexander led team RWBY towards the gate, which opened in front of them, closed behind them by a pair of large men, who Alexander gave respectful nods to. The men nodded politely back, and walked back into the small guard house flanking the gate. There was only one real road in the town, lined by shops, some restaurants, an inn, and, where the road terminated, sat a large building that could only be the mayoral hall.

"We're meeting the person we'll be escorting at the bar in the inn." He said, and led the girls in that direction, watching them take in the foreign scenery with wide eyes. People bustled around the main road, forcing the five of them to weave through a crowd a bit, but they made it to the inn with little difficulty. When Alexander led them inside, they found the inn about half full, some people eating meals at several tables, some walking up and down the stairs to the rooms, and a few more sitting at the bar. Alexander's mouth curled into a grin as he spotted a shock of white that made Weiss' jaw drop. He walked up behind Winter, sitting at the bar in her uniform, though wearing a coat that he noted with a smile as one of his, his distinctive orange emblem bright against the white, to ward off the chill in the air outside. A hand on her shoulder made her turn to him with an almost imperceptible smile that widened after they shared a chaste kiss.

"It's so good to see you." She said, a hand resting against his cheek, her thumb lightly running over the scar on his cheek. He smiled wider and kissed her again.

"It's good to see you too." He said, and she managed a quick glance over at team RWBY, where Weiss was standing completely still, her expression a strange combination of confused, scared, and happy, while Blake was staring with an expression of blatant confusion. Yang's gum had fallen out of her open mouth, and she had made no move to pick it up. Ruby was the only member of the team to move, her head darting back and forth between Winter and Weiss. Finally, they were shocked out of their stupor when Alexander and Winter turned to look at them, and cleared their throats, Alexander openly smirking.

"We'll be escorting the lovely Specialist Schnee about through the forest while she goes around inspecting villages. That, however, will start tomorrow, when we head for the next village. Feel free to do what you will, but don't leave the village. Winter has kindly rented five rooms for the night, so find us when you want to head to bed. Sound good?" He asked, and Ruby nodded, her team following her lead a moment later.

"Fantastic. Now, go be hooligans. Winter and I want to have time to ourselves. Go!" He said, waving in a dismissive gesture jokingly with a smile on his face. Team RWBY looked between each other before heading out, Weiss shooting the pair one last look before she followed her teammates out. Alexander turned to Winter, who, while her face was as impassive as ever, held a sparkle of amusement in her eyes.

"I wasn't aware that you hadn't told them that I was assigned to be your charge." She said, and he grinned widely.

"Decided not to. Didn't want Weiss to get cold feet. Besides, did you see them? Their reactions were priceless." He said, and she shrugged.

"It was rather amusing." She said, and he chuckled.

"Well, would you rather stand here like love-struck fools, or are we going to catch up over dinner?" She asked, and he held a crooked elbow with a smile. She wrapped her hands around his arm and the two walked towards the door of the hotel.

"I saw a restaurant on the way in that said it served authentic Atlesian food. Should we test that claim?" He asked, and she rolled her eyes.

"Obviously."

…

"So, Ice Queen, how do you feel about protecting your sister?" Yang asked from her place lying down on the roof of one of the two story buildings around the village. The rest of team RWBY had joined her on the roof when she had clambered up about an hour ago, drawing more than a few strange glances from the pedestrians walking around, the setting sun painting them all in hues of orange and yellow. Weiss scoffed in response to Yang's question.

"We're not here to protect Winter. Alexander by himself is more than capable, and those two together are incredibly formidable. I have no doubt that we are here for a completely different reason other than this mission. I'm sorry you all got dragged into Alexander's well-meaning attempts to get me to reconnect with my sister." She said, and Blake gave her a look.

"Maybe that's why he wanted us to come initially, but I highly doubt that that is the only reason he got Ozpin to send our entire team. He could have easily asked to bring just you if that were the case. No, I think Alexander genuinely wanted all of us here for different reasons." She said, and she could feel Ruby's gaze on her.

"But why bring Yang and I along? You and Weiss know him really well, but Yang and I have never even met him before." Ruby said, and Yang huffed.

"I don't know if that's true, Rubes. I think we _have_ met him before, I just don't remember where. I remember seeing him, or at least someone who looked like him at Professor Olympia's funeral, and thinking he looked familiar even then." Yang replied, and Ruby hummed thoughtfully as the sun sank below the horizon.

"Alright. I think we should be getting to bed. Think Specialist Wallace is back at the inn?" Ruby asked, and Weiss nodded after a moment of thought.

"Then let's get back."

…

As the girls walked up to the inn, they spotted someone standing outside the inn, lighting a cigarette with a silver lighter. As they approached, they noticed that it was Alexander, holding a lighter in one hand that drew Yang's attention immediately, the cigarette in the other. He exhaled a puff of smoke as they got closer, and pocketed the lighter, pulling out a quartet of keys, dangling them out for Ruby to take.

"Figured I could probably get a smoke in while I waited, but I guess not. There are seven rooms upstairs, three on each side, and one dead ahead. You all have the last two on either side. Winter and I are in the room at the end of the hall if you guys need anything. We leave at ten tomorrow morning, apparently the inn serves a pretty good breakfast from seven to nine. You girls have a good night then, try not to stay up too late." He threw the cigarette down on the ground, crushing it and putting it out with the toe of his boot, and with a smile and a wave, headed back into the inn ahead of the girls. Yang stood there stunned for a few seconds before the swinging of the room key in her face drew her back to reality.

An hour or so later, Yang found herself lying in her bed, unable to fall asleep, staring up at the ceiling, thinking of days long past, when a yellow-haired man would carry around a silver lighter. And she wondered if Alexander knew what that lighter had meant to her father.

…

Yang didn't speak much that next day, preferring to spend her time with her own thoughts, something that put the rest of her team on guard, though she missed the concerned glances that the other three sent her regularly. When they made camp for the night, Alexander watched her carefully, and waited until towards the end of dinner to say anything.

"Alright. Yang, you and I are on first watch, Blake and Weiss will have second watch, and Ruby and I will take third watch. Good? Good. Hope you all get a good night's rest, everybody." He said, turning to whisper something to Winter that made her smile and kiss him before she headed for her tent. The other members of team RWBY went to their respective tents as well while Yang joined Alexander on the log he was sitting on, staring out into the forest away from the camp.

"So, Yang, something been bothering you?" He asked innocuously after a few minutes, already knowing the answer. She sighed, looking at him as he stared out into the darkness.

"Why do I feel like I know you? Why do you have my dad's lighter?" She asked, her voice quiet, almost tentative, something that would have thrown Alexander a bit if he hadn't been watching her. It helped that Qrow had already told the Specialist that even though his niece had a lot of confidence, it was underlined with a healthy dose of abandonment issues and insecurities. Alexander didn't answer her questions for a beat, something that made Yang a bit nervous, but he was just thinking through what he wanted to say.

"You're a smart kid, Yang. What do you think?" He asked, looking out into the forest. It took her a moment to get to the conclusion he knew she would reach, and when Yang finally did, she looked almost pained and swallowed a knot in her throat before she spoke.

"You were part of the team that Summer brought to our house right before she…" Yang cut herself off, wiping at tears that pricked the edges of her eyes. She saw Alexander nod, looking at her with a melancholy look in his eyes.

"And you… you were with Qrow when he came to tell us, and… you were at Professor Uranus' funeral." Alexander pulled out his lighter and a pack of cigarettes from his backpack. Lighting one up, the lighter and pack went into one of his pockets as the cherry light flared as he inhaled. He blew out, the smoke a pale grey that was barely visible in the darkness.

"I also used to visit your Uncle Qrow a lot when you guys were staying with him. Amber would come and hang out with you guys while your Uncle and I talked and hung out. Not terribly surprised that you guys don't really remember me." He said, tapping some ash from his cigarette off onto the ground.

"Your father gave me his lighter while my team and I were at your house. We had a pretty good talk, shared a smoke, and the next day, before my team left, he gave me his lighter and Qrow's number in case I wanted to get in touch with him." There was a long silence, punctuated by the fluctuations of brightness from his cigarette before Alexander finally dropped the cigarette butt onto the ground, crushing it into the dirt with the toe of his boot before pulling the pack of cigarettes and lighter out of his pocket. He pulled two cigarettes out, extending one to Yang, who took it with a sceptical look.

"If you activate your aura, it'll keep the smoke and ash from burning your lungs, and prevent any long term effects." He lit her cigarette and she inhaled. When she blew the smoke out, she looked at the cigarette and shrugged.

"I don't see why you and my dad like that." She said, and Alexander chuckled.

"Well, it's not for everybody. Qrow told me Summer kinda hated it that Tai smoked. Guess you take more after your mom than I thought." He said, and Yang angrily stomped out the cigarette she had dropped at her feet.

"She's not really my mom. Uncle Qrow's abandoning bitch of a sister is." She said, and the cloud of smoke Alexander exhaled obscured his face for a moment.

"Nah." He said, and she looked at him, surprised.

"What?" She asked, more than a little mad.

"Way I see it, Raven was barely around long enough to birth you before handing you off to Tai and _Summer_ , who spent ten years raising you alongside Tai, and who loved you as much as her own biological daughter. Raven might have given birth to you, but Summer is your mother, full stop. That make sense?" He asked, looking over at her questioningly to see her much more calm. She nodded, looking down a bit sadly again.

"Yeah, I get it. Doesn't make me any less pissed with her, though." Alexander shrugged in response.

"Well, if she deserves it." She looked uncertain for a moment before nodding.

"She does." Yang spoke more to herself than him, and he continued to look out into the darkness of the forest.

"Man, this has been about a thousand times more serious than I meant it to be." He said, throwing his cigarette butt onto the ground, and grinding it out with his boot. He chuckled a bit suddenly, something that made Yang look at him questioningly.

"Every once in awhile, when I need a good laugh, I like to remember that one time, while they were at Beacon, your father tricked Qrow into wearing a skirt around school all day." He barely finished his sentence before he burst out laughing, Yang following suit a moment later, once her brain had processed what he had said.

…

"Hello Ruby." Alexander said, sitting on a log. The team leader looked at him in a little bit of shock before she remembered that he had said earlier that he would take her shift with her.

"Hello Specialist Wallace!" She said, a wide smile on her face, causing Alexander to mirror her expression, a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth as well. It was hard not to fall prey to the young girl's infectious joy.

"Lovely to see that you're so chipper for waking up so early." He remarked as she bounced over to sit on a log around the fire that was slowly dwindling, until Alexander leaned forward to add a few more logs, the fire slowly rekindling to greater heights to stave off the creeping chill that came in the predawn darkness.

"I guess I've always been a morning person." She said, shrugging. Alexander nodded in understanding, and didn't say anything, just watching the fire and listening to the crackle of the logs while Ruby carefully watched the dark forest. It took a while, longer than Alexander expected, for the teenager to break the silence, finally trying to sate her curiosity.

"Specialist Wallace," She started, causing the man to look at her questioningly. "Why did you want to bring all of team RWBY on this mission?" He blinked at her blankly for a moment while he thought about her question.

"What do you mean, Ruby?" He asked, and she shrugged.

"Well, Weiss was saying yesterday that you probably wanted her on this mission so she and her sister could get a chance to talk, and Blake said that you probably wanted all of us here for specific reasons, and I've thought a lot about that, but I just don't know why you would want Yang, Blake, and I on this mission." She said, and he smiled.

"As smart as Blake and Weiss are, they're only partially right. Yes, I wanted Weiss to come so Winter and she would hopefully reconnect more substantially. Other than that, though, Weiss seems to really like you guys, and you _are_ currently the top team in your year. It seemed like a good opportunity for you all. Most teams don't do an escort mission until their third year. This would give you another leg up, open up more opportunities for your team." He said, and she smiled a bit sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment.

"Oh! Well, uh, thanks, I guess." She said, and he nodded.

"It's my pleasure. I really do like you four. You're all pretty great young women." He said, and she smiled before she pulled out Crescent Rose, and slowly started checking and double checking that everything on it was how she wanted, checking the scope several times, cleaning the inside of the barrel, checking the bolt, making sure that the breach was clean and clear before she slid a magazine into the rifle, sliding back the bolt an inch or two to check that the rifle had properly chambered the first round. When she was done with all of this, she looked around, suddenly bored, finding, not for the first time, that watch was boring as all hell. Looking over at the Specialist, who was leaned in towards the fire to light a cigarette off the flames, her eyes brightened, and she tilted her head slightly.

"Specialist Wallace?" She said, and he looked towards her with an acknowledging hum, the cigarette now held between his lips.

"Why did you decide to become a Specialist?" She asked, and he didn't say anything for a minute, just looking at her, the occasional puff of smoke drifting out of the corner of his mouth.

"Why do you ask?" He responded, his face almost devoid of emotion except for a mild glint of interest in his eyes.

"Well, because the last mission we were on, we were with Doctor Oobleck, and he asked everyone but me why they wanted to be Huntresses, and he told me why he became a Huntsman, and I dunno, it's been something I've wanted to know about everyone I meet now. I want to ask Specialist Schnee too, but" She was cut off by Alexander.

"But she's currently asleep, and you don't know her." He said, less of a statement, more of a question that Ruby nodded at. He sat quietly for a while, just looking at her for a while, something that made her a bit nervous. The brunette started to squirm uncomfortably in the silence, and almost didn't expect him to respond, which was why she jumped when he finally did speak.

"I don't have exactly what one would call a typical position. Even for Specialists, the jobs I do, the missions I go on, are unique. So are Winter's, for that matter. Most Specialists perform duties similar to that of a typical Huntsman, but instead of choosing the jobs they take, they receive their postings, what village or town they'll be protecting, where they'll be going to exterminate Grimm, what particular merchant, politician, or caravan they'll be escorting. But, though I can perform those missions, it is not where my real skill lies, and as a Specialist, I am given the opportunities to use my skills to help people, and better the world around me." She watched him, hung on every word, a burning question in her mind. It took her a few moments to realize that he had stopped speaking, but when she did, the question burst from her lips before she realized that she was asking it.

"What exactly _do_ you do?" She asked, and he gave a small smile, an eyebrow quirked at her.

"What do you mean by that?" He asked, even though he was sure he knew what she meant.

"Well, you said that you and Winter were kinda unique, and I guess if you don't fight monsters like other Specialists, I was wondering what you did instead." She looked embarrassed, though the comforting smile he directed at her helped ease her embarrassment.

"Monsters come in many shapes and sizes, Ruby. Grimm are monsters, yes, but humans can be monsters as well. Part of my job is to find those people, wherever they may be hiding, and figure out if they pose a real threat to other people. If they do, or if they will, I deal with them." He said, and she, much to his surprise, didn't seem confused or horrified at all, much to his surprise. If he had to place an emotion to her almost blank face, he would say that she almost looked angry.

"Like the White Fang?" She asked, with an ice to her words that he hadn't been expecting.

"Like the White Fang, yes, and also like the people that killed your mother. Some are incredibly organized, others are little more than a particularly rowdy group of hoodlums. But they all have to get assessed." He said, rubbing his hands together as he went back to staring at the fire.

"You make it sound like you and the people you work with know everything." She said, and he gave a cocky smile.

"We do our best. It usually goes alright." He joked, and she smiled.

"How do you like Beacon, Ruby?" He asked, and her smile widened.

"I love it! All the teachers are great, even though they're a bit weird. Just being at Beacon is amazing! I love being on a team with Yang, and Blake is like a real life ninja, and Weiss is so smart!" She looked so genuinely happy, such a contrast to her mood a few moments ago, that Alexander couldn't help but smile.

"That's good to hear." He said, a wistful smile on his face. "Having consistent teammates is one thing that I miss about Beacon." She gave him a look of confusion.

"Do you not keep in touch with your friends?" She asked, and he gave a noncommittal shrug.

"We talk every so often. I have a general idea of what they're all doing, but I'm hardly the picture of consistent accessibility. I know that two of them are in Menagerie, together, helping fend off the Grimm whenever they need, taking some other jobs when they have the time. Another friend is in Mistral, doing some occasional lectures at Haven, but mostly doing his best to help curtail all the illegal activity in the area, though it's slow going. If you happen to be in those areas ever, send me a message, and I'll get you in touch with them. Whatever you're doing at the time, I'm sure they would be more than willing to help." He said, and she looked hopeful.

"Oooh, I hope that I get a chance to get out to Mistral sometime. It just seems like such a pretty place to visit." She gushed, and he barked out a laugh.

"It is nothing if not scenic, that's for sure. Not always the most hospitable place, and positively crawling with bandit tribes, but if you can find somewhere nice that's pretty safe, it's a great place to be." He said, and she looked at him with a questioning look.

"Is there anywhere that you _haven't_ been?" She asked, and he shook his head with a smile.

"Not anywhere of much note, from what I've been told. Apparently I've hit everywhere worth seeing. Most of those trips were under less than ideal circumstances, but that's another matter. I'm something of a walking travel brochure for most anywhere you might want to go." He joked, and she smiled.

"What's Vacuo like?" She asked, and he thought about it for a moment.

"Short answer? Bad." He said, and she laughed. "Long answer, it's not really all that terrible inside the capitol. Oasis is pretty, albeit startlingly hot at times, and the locals are pretty welcoming, though they can be overly enthusiastic in their hospitality. Not that that's a bad thing."

"What about Mistral? Pyrrha always talks about how beautiful it is, but you don't seem all that fond of it." He gave her a wry smile, and took a few moments to word his sentence carefully.

"Mistral is indeed incredibly beautiful. Most of the continent of Anima is, really. But Mistral is as dangerous as it is beautiful. Inside the city of Mistral, the general rule is to stay on the upper levels if you're looking to avoid trouble. But outside the city is where it is really dangerous. Bandits like the Branwen tribe, and rare and dangerous Grimm pose very real threats to anyone, trained or not. General rule of thumb, if you don't have a way to travel directly to the City of Mistral, and you're not a trained Huntsman or Specialist, don't go." She stared at him for a few moments before nodding.

"Thank you." She said, quietly, and he looked at her, intrigued.

"Why? Planning a trip soon?" He asked, and Ruby shook her head.

"No, just interested."

…

The morning brought with it a very annoyed Yang and Blake, who stepped out of their respective tents looking tired and angry, where they found Alexander sitting on one log, Winter leaning into his side, her hair already up into it's customary bun, as Alexander told stories to Weiss and Ruby about his time at Beacon, something that always brought a smile to the elder Schnee's face, and was making Ruby laugh hard enough that she had fallen off the log and, unwittingly, woken up her sister and her partner.

"And then as Roland is literally _carrying_ his girlfriend out of the cafeteria, she manages to wing an orange across the hall, where it splatters apart against Goodwitch's face! I've never seen her look so pissed!" He says, and Ruby's laughter, which had briefly subsided into quiet giggles, burst out once more. Weiss rolled her eyes, but couldn't stop the grin that spread across her face. A subtle nudge from Winter drew Alexander's attention to her, and then to the duo who had just emerged from their tents.

"Morning, ladies. Sorry if we woke you. We've got rations for your guys if you're hungry. Feel free to eat them later, but even though they taste terrible, you should still choke them down. We've got to get to the next village by tonight." He said, throwing the two of them a sealed package each, that they managed to catch, a bit startled.

"We'll be staying two nights in the village. I need a whole day to assess everything." Winter said, looking at the four girls, who all nodded.

"We'll figure out who will stay with Winter and I when we get to the village."

…

"Sorry, Blake." Ruby looked legitimately sad, and Blake couldn't help but smile.

"Don't worry. Fair's fair." Behind them, Alexander nodded sagely.

"The rules of rock paper scissors are cruel and unyielding." He said, and the other three members bid Blake farewell. The faunus did feel a bit sad that she wouldn't be around her teammates all day, but she brushed it off with a sigh, turning to Alexander and Winter, who were talking about something quietly. She waited for the two to stop talking, and when they looked in her direction, she felt the elder Schnee's gaze root her in place for a moment. Her blue eyes swept over her, scrutinizing her.

"Blake, you alright?" Alexander asked, and Blake blinked a few times before looking over at him and nodding.

"I'm fine." She replied, and Alexander gave her a long look before nodding.

"Alright. I should..." Alexander trailed off, looking at Winter, who sighed and nodded, a sad look on her face.

"Yes. I suppose you should. Just remember, I don't like this plan." He swallowed thickly and nodded.

"I know. It's a just-in-case thing, remember? Hopefully I won't have to go through with it." A twitch of her frown was the only indication that she knew even he didn't believe the words, but she just kissed him before pushing him away from her.

"Go. Just in case." She said, quietly, while Blake watched, perplexed by the entire interaction. Alexander walked off, and Winter took a deep breath, gathering herself, and looked at Blake.

"Well. Let's get going as well." Winter said, and proceeded to lead Blake through the town all morning, talking to various different officials, talking briefly to the Huntsman that was assigned to the village, even walking various section of the stone wall around the village before the two finally broke for lunch.

Winter hadn't said a word to the Faunus all morning, and Blake almost preferred it that way. The older Schnee was much more imposing than Weiss, partially because of her height, but she also carried herself with the confidence of someone who knew that they could beat the piss out of everyone around them and walk away barely worse for wear. So, when Winter finally _did_ speak to the young woman, it startled her.

"So, you're Alexander's old Vale contact." She said, gaze fixed on the menu she had opened on the table. Blake blinked a few times before realizing what the Specialist was saying.

"I wasn't aware that he was allowed to tell anyone about his missions." This brought a small smile to Winter's face as she lifted her gaze to look at Blake.

"I wasn't aware that a former terrorist would be a stickler for such minute and silly things like laws and confidentiality clauses." Her voice was low, barely loud enough for Blake to hear, but the faunus still looked around cautiously, making sure nobody heard them.

"Don't worry. Your secret is safe with me." Winter said, back at normal conversation volume, lowering her gaze back down to her menu.

"Thank you." Blake said, not sure how to react to that. Winter quietly hummed to herself.

"Protecting your secret helps protect Alexander, and that's what matters to me." She said, and Blake found herself looking at the former heiress in a different light. Blake continued to watch Winter as the waiter came and took their orders, leaving with promises to return with food in a few minutes.

"What is Alexander doing? What is he preparing for?" Blake asked quietly, and Winter didn't answer, preferring to start eating her food. Taking that as a cue to drop the subject, Blake followed suit, digging into her meal, every so often, flicking her eyes to look at the Specialist across the table from her.

"Alexander will not be with us for the majority of this mission. He is off doing something for Ozpin. The what why and where of the situation are not things you should concern yourself with for the time being. I will tell the other three, but you are not to tell them anything about Alexander's departure. If they ask you, it happened while Alexander and I requested time alone to discuss something, and when I came back, it was alone. He trusts your discretion on this, and I hope that that trust is not misplaced." Winter pinned Blake in place with her gaze until the chieftain's daughter nodded her assent.

"If I may ask, when will he be joining us?" Blake asked, and Winter gave a small smile.

"He will be waiting for us at the last village." The two finished their lunch in silence, exchanging some small talk, but not much, and Winter led the young woman around the village to talk to, among others, the mayor, a random man working a jewelry stand outside his smithy, and an off duty guardswoman, who jumped when two armed strangers approached her, reaching for a sword that wasn't there before calming down after a beat.

As night started to fall, the other members of RWBY, looking tired, sweaty, dirty, but otherwise no worse for wear, joined Winter and Blake in a restaurant where questions were immediately leveled at Winter about where Alexander was, why he had left, and when he would be back, mostly from Weiss, who, though she seemed angry and hurt that Alexander hadn't said goodbye, was clearly not surprised by the man's curious comings and goings. Yang and Ruby, meanwhile, were shaken by how blase and closed off Winter was about the entire thing, simply answering that Alexander would be at the last village on their trip, and not to worry, he had simply been called out on an unexpected assignment.

Sleep did not come easily to the four girls, and Weiss was not surprised when Yang barged into the hotel room that the heiress shared with their leader, pulling their stealthy fourth member behind her. When the door closed behind them, Yang looked sharply at Weiss.

"Why would he leave?" Yang asked, clearly agitated, and becoming more so when Weiss shrugged.

"Could be anything. Could be Winter was telling the truth, and that he really did leave on assignment that he hadn't foreseen, or…" Weiss didn't finish the sentence, because Ruby picked it up for her.

"Or he left to do something he didn't want people knowing about, and this mission was a smokescreen." Weiss looked at the younger girl and nodded.

"Which would explain why he requested to bring us along, so that Winter would not be without immediate backup if she needed it. And why he brought us in particular, as other teams would be less likely to keep this secret. And we _are_ going to keep this secret." Weiss looked at each of her teammates in kind, waiting for them each to nod their heads in agreement, though Yang took a while to agree.

"So. We help keep this secret. What happens when it comes out?" Yang asked, almost glaring at the heiress, who raised her head, coolly staring at the brawler.

" _If_ it comes out, we either hope that Alexander was doing the right thing, or that someone is able to protect us and keep us from looking complicit in whatever he is doing."

…

Other than some snarky remarks made by Yang to Blake and Ruby when Weiss and Winter weren't around, that was the last anyone said about the strange situation for the rest of the trip. It wasn't much longer, a little over a week, that RWBY and Winter found themselves walking toward the last village on Winter's route. Sitting on a rock along the side of the road, they spotted a man they quickly recognized as Alexander, backpack by his feet, looking a bit sleep-deprived, though otherwise fine. He hopped off the rock when he spotted them approaching, a smile stretching across his face as they got closer.

"It's great to see you all again." He said, after separating from Winter's embrace, looking at team RWBY. They all greeted him with varying levels of enthusiasm, from Blake's typical monotone to Ruby's chipper smile.

"Good news. Got done with my assignment earlier than I expected, and was able to run a check into the woods around the village this morning, and we're pretty clear of Grimm. How much time do you need?" He directed his question to Winter, who thought for a few seconds before she spoke.

"With a town this small? Probably just the morning. I'll call a bullhead, get us picked up this afternoon." Alexander smiled, landing a chaste kiss on her cheek before stepping back.

"Want me to join you?" He asked, and after a few seconds of indecision, she nodded, before turning on her heel and walking towards the town. Alexander jogged after her a moment later, grabbing his pack as he passed it, throwing a wave to team RWBY with a smile and a reminder to be in town for lunch as the pair left them standing, a little confused, and with nothing to do.

"So, no Grimm and no adult supervision. What poor decisions should we make first?" Yang asked, jokingly, something that go her quickly reprimanded by her sister and Weiss. Blake, meanwhile, was staring after the pair of Specialists, who had just stepped into the town borders, Alexander spinning around with her in his arms while she slapped his shoulders, trying to get him to put her down. Even from as far away as she was, Blake could see the smiles that split their faces.

"Wanna join us, Blake?" She heard Yang ask, and turned to face her teammates.

"Sorry?" She said, and Yang quirked an eyebrow.

"I asked if you wanted to join us. We're going to go find somewhere to spar. So, you in?" Yang asked, and Blake nodded, following her teammates as they started walking towards the forest around the village.

…

Team RWBY got back to town earlier than explicitly necessary, and found themselves waiting outside the inn for an hour or so while Winter and Alexander finished up around town. While they were sitting there, they watched a storm front slowly roll in, obscuring their vision of the midday sun with dark purple clouds that swallowed away the brightness of the day.

"Lucky we got back early. Would have sucked to have to walk back to town through that." Yang said, as the sky burst open, depositing a deluge of water on the village, soaking everything almost instantly. Blake nodded next to her, lost in her thoughts as Ruby and Weiss discussed something quietly behind the pair, the occasional glance out the window at the weather the only concession to noticing the rest of the world.

The door to the inn creaked open, and a dripping wet Alexander stumbled in, laughing and dragging an irate and equally soaked Winter behind him, drawing some attention from the patrons, but everyone looked away after a moment when Alexander pulled the elder Schnee closer to him and leaned his head down to whisper something in Winter's ear. The two broke apart after a few seconds and a chaste kiss, walking over to the table that Weiss and Ruby sat at, and Alexander motioned Blake and Yang over to join them.

"What's up, guys?" Alexander asked, a little breathlessly. Next to him, Winter motioned for someone to come get their orders.

"Just discussing the weather." Ruby quickly answered, making Alexander swing his eyes to look at her, an eyebrow quirked.

"It's quite the storm outside." He responded, and Ruby nodded nervously.

"Something the matter, Miss Rose?" Winter asked, and Ruby quickly shook her head. Next to her, Weiss blanched almost imperceptibly, and Yang saw Alexander tapping something onto Winter's thigh. After a second, she looked at him and nodded.

"You all excited to get back to Beacon?" Alexander asked, looking around the table at the teenagers.

"Sure are. Can't wait to see our friends again." Was Ruby's reply, as Yang watched the Specialists clasp hands above the table, Winter tapping something onto the back of Alexander's hand with her thumb, to which Alexander tapped something onto Winter's fingers with his thumb. Yang watched this continue through the conversation, the two adults tapping something back and forth to each other until their food came.

"Blake, did you ever learn Morse code?" Yang asked, ignoring the chips of ice that fixed on her, narrowing as Alexander looked at Blake, suddenly very engaged in the conversation.

"That's a good question, Blake. Kinda rule number one of spycraft and deception is to know different codes and cyphers. You ever learn any?" He asked, and the Faunus' ears visibly twitched under her bow.

"Learned a few. Morse code was one of them." She replied evenly, her amber gaze sliding from the Specialist to look warningly at Yang.

"It's good to know. Not many people do. Lets you pass important information to people when someone might be listening or watching. Anything from confidential information to just reminding someone that you love them." Winter said, her tone cold and emotionless.

"Though you do have to be careful about people trying to eavesdrop." Alexander said, an edge to his voice that reminded Blake exactly why the White Fang feared him like a rabbit would fear a raptor.

"Oh, good, the food's here." Winter said, with the same icy tone, breaking the moment as plates of food was set down in front of them all by the innkeeper, who Alexander shot a smile and shared a handshake with as they departed.

They ate in uncomfortable silence, the tension thick enough that someone would have needed a high velocity Atlas tank shell to pierce it. Alexander and Winter continued to tap messages to each other, but they were now tapping on each other's knees, rather than out in the open. When the two were done with their meal, they walked out, citing that the need to make sure the bullhead knew were to land as their reason for leaving early.

The second the two of them left, Blake felt her hand start to shake, and put her fork down quickly, clasping her hands in her lap to hide the shaking from her team. It had been a long time since the faunus had seen Alexander really turn up the intimidation factor, and it shook her worse than she remembered, though that may have been a factor of having not one, but two Atlesian Specialists staring into her soul. She saw Weiss swallow thickly after a breath that shuddered almost imperceptibly, and remembered that she was not the only person to see Alexander's dark side, though he was usually a perfectly enjoyable person.

"What, the _fuck_ was that?" Yang asked, looking at her teammates with wide eyes, having noticed their physical response to their hidden fear.

" _That_ ," Weiss started, "was two Specialist barely trying to scare us, and succeeding remarkably."

…

The dark cloud of lunch followed the group as they boarded the bullhead, and stayed with them through the flight. Winter and Alexander spoke quietly to each other on one side of the transport, standing close together, occasional touches and barely audible whispers the only signs to team RWBY that the two had not turned into statues.

"What do you think they're talking about?" Ruby whispered to Weiss, her silver eyes fixed on the pair at the other side of the bullhead, not noticing how the heiress rolled her eyes at the question.

"Probably how to wrest control of the military from Ironwood and foment a military insurrection that involves Atlas reclaiming the city of Mantle from the Grimm before extending the reach of their empire all the way across the sea to Anima." Weiss deadpanned, and Ruby looked at her, eyes wide.

"Really?" She asked, and Weiss dropped her head into her hand.

"No, you dunce, clearly they wouldn't do that. They're probably just talking about nonsense like when they'll be able to see each other next." Weiss said.

"Although, if any two people were to forcibly remove Ironwood from power, those would be the two to do it." Blake said, from behind the heiress, causing Yang to look at her in surprise.

"They could do that?" She asked, and Blake shrugged.

"Not alone, but they would be far from alone. A lot of very important people owe them very big favors, and Alexander probably has blackmail material on the ones who don't." Weiss said, and all four froze when said Specialist smiled, looking over their direction.

"Oh, Weiss, blackmail is illegal." He said, and Winter poked him in the stomach.

"Are you saying you have never blackmailed anyone, and don't have any potential blackmail material on people?" He laughed.

"Now, hold on, Princess, I didn't say _that_." Alexander turned back to talking to Winter as the bullhead started to slow before coming to a final stop with a small jerk that had everyone taking a stutter step to stay on their feet.

Team RWBY followed the two Specialists off the bullhead, heading toward Beacon while Winter and Alexander stepped off to the side. Weiss managed to catch a few words of their hushed conversation as she walked past, and heard Alexander give Winter his hotel room number before sliding a key into her pocket, and turning to follow RWBY towards Beacon, catching up in a few strides.

"So, you four entering the Vytal Festival?" He said, and Ruby started practically bouncing up and down as she started listing off different team attacks they had worked on, and how hard they had been working to stay up to par with their skill. Her enthusiasm was hard to look past, and she kind of steamrolled over her teammates and Alexander, who would start a sentence, mention a potential problem, only for Ruby to latch onto it, and start running with it, describing in great detail different plans she had for different team compositions they may be facing, the fields they might be fighting on, and so on.

"So, that's a yes, then?" Alexander joked, when Ruby finally stopped to catch her breath as they approached the elevator to Ozpin's office. He stepped inside, motioning for the four teenagers to follow him, the door closing behind Blake, who entered last.

"Why do we need to see Ozpin again?" Yang asked, looking at Alexander, whose eyes stayed fixed on the door in front of him.

"Because we're not going to see Ozpin. We're going to talk to Ironwood, who happens to be in Ozpin's office while Ozpin is present. Far easier than getting you all onto the _Yggdrasil._ " Alexander said, as the elevator opened in front of them, all five filing out into Ozpin's office.

"Ah, good, you're here. All went well, then?" Ozpin asked, from behind his desk, before Ironwood could say anything. Alexander smiled wryly at the headmaster, a look the man returned as he sipped his coffee.

"All went well. Winter turned in her report before we headed back, you should already have a copy, General." Alexander said, and Ironwood nodded.

"I received the copy already, Alexander, thank you. Anything else to report?" Ironwood asked, and Alexander shook his head.

"Girls?" Ozpin asked, and the four students looked at him after a moment of disbelief.

"Yes, headmaster?" Ruby asked, and Ozpin smiled.

"Anything to report?" He questioned, and Ruby stalled for a second before she replied.

"I'm not sure what you're asking for, headmaster." She said and his smile twitched, threatening to widen into a grin before he suppressed it.

"Anything strange about the mission? Anything at all, feel free to speak your mind, children." He said, his green eyes flicking over to Alexander for a moment before looking back at the team.

"No, sir, nothing at all strange to report." It was Ruby that answered, like before, her face serious, and Alexander was starkly reminded of the young girl's resemblance to Summer, something that brought a small smile to his face.

"Good, then. Children, Specialist, you are all dismissed. Thank you for your time." Ironwood said, and Alexander guided team RWBY back to the elevator, this time getting in after the four girls had loaded into the elevator. He turned to face the elevator door, staying silent the entire elevator ride until it started to slow down.

"Thank you." Was all he said before stepping out of the elevator, and disappearing into the crowd outside Beacon Tower. Yang followed him with her eyes as he walked away until the crowd swallowed him, and the blonde let out a sigh.

"I hope that was the right choice." She said, starting to walk away from the rest of her team, until she felt a hand on her arm. She stopped, turning to look at Blake, whose calm amber eyes were boring holes into Yang's lilacs.

"I trust him. It was the right choice, Yang." Blake said, not looking away or letting go until Yang nodded.

"Alright, Blake. You trust him, I trust you. If you say it was the right choice, then it was." Yang said, before walking off.

"If you guys need me, I'll be in the gym. I got some stuff I wanna work through on my own for a little while." The blonde said, disappearing, like Alexander, into the crowd around Beacon tower. Weiss sighed, looking at Ruby.

"What're the odds that she's actually going to the gym?" The heiress asked, and Ruby, staring after her sister in disappointment, ran a hand through her crimson tipped hair.

"Not bad, to be honest. Punching things does seem to help her work through things. Do either of you happen to know where Alexander's hotel room is?" She asked, looking at the two other members of her team, who shared a look before nodding.

…

A knock at his hotel door forced Alexander to sit up on his bed, walking past the closed bathroom to get to the front door, the faint patter of a shower the only indication that someone was using it. He opened the door to his hotel, not exactly sure what to expect, but was still surprised nonetheless.

"Ruby Rose." He stated, looking at the short girl, who still had a hand up in the air to knock, that she quickly thrust behind her back a bit sheepishly. She smiled at him, having suddenly lost what she wanted to say.

"Hi…" She said, and he smiled.

"Come on in." He said, stepping to the side, letting the crimsonette into the room. As she walked in, she heard the shower running through the door and stopped with rapidly reddening cheeks.

"I'm sorry, did I interrupt something?" She asked, and he stopped in confusion for a few seconds, before breaking out in a laugh.

"Oh, no, no, you're fine. Winter takes forever in the shower when we're not on active duty. She's been in the bathroom since I got back, and has been showering for a solid five minutes already." He said, sitting on the bed, motioning for Ruby to take the chair at the desk, which she turned to face him before sitting down.

"What's up, Ruby?" He asked, a welcoming smile on his face that would have made Ruby feel at home, but she felt uncomfortable about coming at all, so she returned the smile hesitantly.

"I uh, wanted to, uh, knowwhyyouleftthemission." She said, and his smile faltered for a moment, before coming back, full force.

"That's it?" He asked, and she nodded.

"You don't want to know how your Uncle's doing? Why you never saw Amber again? Or why Yang _clearly_ doesn't trust me?" He asked, and she faltered a bit.

"Tell you what, I'll tell you about that too, but let's answer you first question first, alright?" He said, and she nodded.

"So, why I left the mission, right?" He said.

"Yes, please." She said, and he smiled again.

"I went to go see Raven." He said, and she looked at him in shock.

"What? You know where she is?" She asked, and he nodded, before thinking about it.

"Well, I know where she is currently. That will likely change soon, but I know how to find her quickly and reliably." He said, and she looked more confused than ever.

"Why would you go see Raven? Does Yang know this? Can I tell her?" She asked all her questions in quick succession, and looked to continue asking rapid fire questions, but Alexander held up a hand to stop her.

"Why I went to go see Raven is personal, and between Raven and I, I hope you understand why I won't tell you that." He said, and she nodded after a brief hesitation.

"As for if Yang knows, no, she doesn't know that I went to go see Raven. And, frankly, as it didn't concern her, she won't know. Can I trust you with this? I know it's asking a lot, for you to keep a secret from her, but-" He was cut off.

"I'll keep it secret. Does Yang know that you know how to find Raven?" Ruby looked concerned, intrigued, and scared all at once, her wide silver eyes almost seeming to glow with an ethereal light.

"Yes, Yang knows that I know how to find Raven. She also knows how to find Raven herself, should she decide to. In fact, she's known since just before you two got to Beacon. I've been the one sending Yang the files on her mother for years, and the last one detailed how to find Raven, should she ever want to. I'm sure Yang knows that I'm the one that sent the files, but I can't be sure, as I haven't personally taken credit, but that's part of why she doesn't trust me, I think." Alexander looked at Ruby, who was staring at him in shock.

"Why else do you think Yang doesn't trust you?" She asked, and he blinked at her for a moment, his face emotionless as he thought.

"Besides not coming forward to her and saying I had sent the files, I think she feels that I pressured you, Blake, and Weiss into keeping quiet about me leaving the mission. Then there was the whole bit with the morse code, at the inn…" He trailed off, and Ruby nodded, looking confused.

"But you _didn't_ pressure us." Ruby said, and he nodded.

"But from her perspective, I must've. Blake and Weiss trust me a lot, and I've known them for a long time, and for you to side with them… Well, I think she assumed that I pressured you into covering for me during our morning watch." Alexander said.

"What about… You mentioned Qrow and Amber?" Ruby asked, looking hopefully at the Specialist, who bowed his head, a small smile on his lips.

"Qrow will be back in Vale soon. I don't have an exact date, but he is well, and will be here soon." Alexander replied, and a wide smile split Ruby's face at the good news about her mentor.

"As for Amber…" He started, his face falling.

"She was hurt in a mission. She's been in a bad way for a long time, but I'm holding out hope. Sometimes it's all you have, but sometimes it's all you need, you know?" Alexander said, and Ruby's smile slipped.

"Why are you telling me all this?" She asked, and he smiled.

"Maybe I just like you, Ruby. Maybe I remember how hard being a team leader was on Amber, and I want to make some things easier for you. Maybe it's because once upon a time, Ozpin trusted your mother above even Professor Goodwitch. Or maybe it's all of those at the same time." He replied, and she looked confused at the subtle information drop about her mother.

"Regardless, Ruby, I think you and your team are going to go very far, and do some incredible things, but you'll need friends and allies. I want to be able to help you, but trust and communication go both ways. This is a start. I already trust you, but for this to work, you have to trust me _,_ too. That make sense?" He said, and she nodded, a little put off.

"Yeah, alright, I get that, but I still don't understand why _me?_ " Ruby said, and Alexander tilted his head in confusion.

"Has Qrow really _never_ talked to you about this?" Alexander asked, clearly rhetorically, though Ruby shrugged, nonetheless.

"I'll have to talk to him about that when I see him next. Until then…" Alexander muttered, looking at the floor, before raising his head to look at Ruby.

"Ruby, what I'm about to tell you never leaves this room. It's extremely important, and I apologize for you having to learn this this way, but I don't see why Ozpin and Qrow have willfully left you ignorant about all this." He said, staring at Ruby.

"Ooookaaayyyy…" She said, looking at him nervously.

"Don't worry, this may sound a bit ridiculous, but all of it's true. Have you ever heard of Silver-eyed warriors?" He asked, and she shook her head, intrigue spilling onto her face.

"Alright, well, then let's start with something you probably _are_ familiar with. The story of the Four Maidens."

…

Ruby walked in a sort of daze all the way to the door of her, which she managed to open with eyes that were fixed on nothing. The door opened, and she was greeted to her three teammates, all in their beds, looking at her intently, two with interest, one with thinly veiled distrust and concern, their room lit by Yang's Scroll and a lamp next to Blake's bed.

"You alright, Rubes?" Yang asked, and Ruby nodded, quickly going through her before bed routine, leaving the bathroom and leaping into her bunk bed with a small smile with how the bed swayed slightly when she landed.

"You talk to Alexander about anything specific?" Yang asked, looking away from her Scroll for a moment to look at her sister, who felt her chest clench painfully for a moment.

"Nope, we didn't talk about anything interesting. I just wanted to hear some more silly stories about his travels is all." She said, before turning over and closing her eyes, missing the sadness in Yang's eyes, and the pointed look Weiss and Blake shared before the faunus turned off the lamp, leaving the room dark but for the faint light coming from Yang's Scroll.

…

 **A/N: I'm sorry this took actually forever to come out, guys. Between some final projects at the start of November, studying for finals into the start of December, some familial issues, and some general shit I've been dealing with, like switching my major, I've been struggling a little bit to get in a motivational and positive mindset where I didn't write something and then hate it thirty seconds later. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! As always, any reviews, follows, whatever, are welcome, and feel free to DM me if you have specific questions you want answered, or if you were confused. I'm on break right now, so hopefully I'll have a chapter out soon! See you guys then! PEACE!**

 **PS: Thanks as always, to Bulba Fett, a great friend and beta.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: We do not own RWBY in any way. This is a fan written story, obviously, and all rights belong to Rooster Teeth Productions. Please support the official release.**

…

Ch 12: Pyrrhic Victory

…

"Do you still believe in all the things that you stood by before?

Are you out there on the front lines, or at home keeping score?

Do you care to be the layer of the bricks that seal your fate?

Would you rather be the architect of what we might create?"

-Rise Against, _Architects_

"We'll never get free

Lamb to the slaughter

What you gon' do

When there's blood in the water

The price of your greed is your son and your daughter"

-grandson, _Blood / Water_

…

 **Three Months Before the Battle of Beacon**

"Qrow Branwen" The raven-haired Huntsman answered the call his Scroll with his same general gruff air and timbre, not sure who was calling, or who had managed to actually get a call out to him in the boonies. He wasn't all that surprised when, a moment of silence later, it was Alexander who spoke on the other end.

"Qrow, it's Alexander. You need to get to Vale as soon as you can." He heard the Specialist say, almost covered in parts by bits of light static. Qrow, reasonably concerned, put down the whiskey he was nursing on the corner booth of the bar, looking suspiciously around at the other patrons, few though there were, trying to figure out if any of them were able to hear his phone call.

"Is something wrong? Are Yang and Ruby okay?" He asked, and didn't hear anything other than the crackle of static for a few moments.

"Everything is fine, _for now_." Alexander said, and Qrow's forehead scrunched in confusion.

"I don't understand. What's the issue, then?" He asked, and had to wait a few seconds with only the static to keep him company.

"Ironwood pulled Winter and I from active duty. We're on forced leave for the next two months. We'll be stuck in Atlas until only a month before the festival." Qrow cursed under his breath, pursing his lips as he thought.

"Is there any way that your leave can involve a long term vacation in Vale?" He asked, mentally crossing his fingers.

"Already used up that excuse, sorry. The second we got back from our mission with your nieces, we had to use that to stay here long enough for me to get some stuff together. As it is, I'm making this call from the bullhead that's taking us to the harbor." Qrow sighed, running his free hand down his face, rubbing at his stubble for a few seconds while he thought some more.

"Fuck. Alright, Alexander, I'll try to get back as soon as I can, but I don't know how quickly that will be. This mission is kind of turning into a bit of a clusterfuck." He said, and heard Alexander saying something to someone in the background.

"Alright. Well, as soon as I can, I'll be back in Vale. Whenever you can make it, Qrow, but don't rush it if it'll put your mission at risk. I'll talk to you soon." He said, and cut the call, leaving Qrow to drop his Scroll on the table in front of him and lean back, drink in hand, downing the rest, before signaling for a waitress.

…

 **One Month Before the Battle of Beacon**

Weiss' face split into a wide smile when she saw her sister descend the ramp of her airship, followed by a few lines of Atlesian Knights. Beside her, Ruby positively radiated confusion and interest, silver eyes flicking back and forth between the older Schnee and the Knights behind her.

"Is this what your sister does, mostly? Oversee the transfer of Atlesian Knights, I mean." Ruby said, and Weiss' expression changed to one of mild confusion.

"I-I don't really know?" She said, looking around a bit. "I mean, it's _part_ of what she does, obviously, but I think it is really only part of what she does. I think a lot of what she does is more fighting Grimm with Atlesian Knights as backup, though she is still a Specialist, so she does take the occasional mission without Atlesian Knights, but everytime I ask her about specifics of her missions, like where she went, who she worked with, what or who she fought, she just tells me it's 'classified'."

"That's because my missions _are_ classified Weiss, but feel free to keep asking questions." Winter said, having just caught the tail end of her sister's sentence. Weiss smiled again, more joy radiating from her than Ruby had ever felt.

"How long are you here for?" The heiress asked, and Ruby swore she could see a glimmer of mischief in Winter's eyes past her emotionless mask.

"Classified." She replied, and Weiss deflated a bit.

"Right, well, what did you think about our first match? Did you see it?" Weiss asked, and Winter nodded.

"I did indeed. I was disappointed." Winter said, and Ruby's mouth dropped open in shock.

"B-but we won!" The younger girl exclaimed, before she could stop herself. Winter turned her cool gaze to focus on the brunette.

"Indeed you did, though it was far from the clean win that I expected. Alexander thought so, too. There were a number of opportunities early in the fight, before you all split up to fight one on one, where you and your teammates should have capitalised on an opening that left your opponents on the back foot. Pushing those openings is important to any fight, regardless of the number of people. Once you have an opportunity, you take it, and keep forcing your opponents to defend, unable to recover, until your boot is firmly fixed on their neck." Ruby found herself unable to respond, dissecting the lecture that Winter had just given her, looking down at her boots in thought while Weiss tilted her head in confusion.

"Alexander was disappointed?" She asked, something tinting her voice that Ruby couldn't initially pin down, because it was so foreign to hear coming from her partner, but was able to identify it, after a few seconds of thought, as sadness. Meanwhile, Winter had nodded in response to her sister's question.

"Not by anyone's individual performance, I assure you." She said, and Weiss felt a weight leave her that she hadn't noticed.

"He just thought that your team fight left something to be desired, though that is to be expected with a team still in its infancy, regardless of how well the four of you have done in classes and in the field." Ruby scratched the back of her head and chuckled nervously.

"Yeah, we've got a lot to work on." The brunette muttered, and Winter nodded.

"Is Alexander with you?" Weiss asked, her eyes hopeful as she looked at her emotionless sister.

"No, he is not with me." Weiss opened her mouth to speak again, but a hand held up by Winter stopped her in her tracks. "Yes, I know where he is, no, I cannot tell you, and no, I don't know when he'll be joining us." Weiss looked a bit deflated until her sister spoke again.

"Why don't you two lead me to your rooms? I would like to see where you are staying, and I'm sure that they have not been _properly_ inspected." Weiss smiled, turning to lead her sister towards Beacon, grabbing her partner as she did, pulling Ruby along with the two Atlesians.

"I would love to, Winter. Now, I do have to say, the bunk beds may _look_ unsafe, but I assure you, they are quite sturdy." Weiss said, causing her older sister to look at her strangely.

"Bunk beds?"

…

The crowd parted in front of the stumbling man, the Atlesians in front of him and the intangible aura of danger he emitted more than enough to keep people out of his way without actually saying anything. It probably helped that he smelled like he had been dipped in grain alcohol as well, and more than a few people stepped back in shock, their eyes watering at the potency of the smell. It wasn't until a courtyard, large and circular, that the man reached what he was following, quickly and efficiently dismantling the Atlesian knights in front of him with little preamble.

He threw one of the Knight's heads across the courtyard, letting it bounce for a few seconds across the stonework before he spoke.

"Hey!" He called, and Weiss and Winter drew to a halt, looking at the drunk with black hair across the courtyard from them.

"Yeah, I'm talking to you, _Ice Queen_." He said, his words dripping with venom, a glint in his eyes that Weiss couldn't place as she marched up to him.

"Excuse me?!" She looked up at him, angry. "Do you have any idea who you're talking to?" He smirked, shushing her dismissively as he pushed her head to the side.

"Not you." He said, stepping past her and making eye contact with Winter.

"You." Winter narrowed her eyes at him. "Saw that gaudy ship of yours in town. Guess you're here to."

"I'm standing _right here_." She said, and he peered at her for a few seconds, before smirking.

"So it would seem." Her lip curled ever so slightly as she continued to stare at him.

"You realized you just destroyed Atlas military property?" She asked, and he sucked his teeth as he looked around, surveying the dismantled robots behind him. He raised his hands both in defense and also to mock Winter.

"Oh, I'm _sorry_. See, I mistook this for some sort of… _sentient_ garbage." Winter stepped forward impatiently, anger burning behind her eyes.

"I don't have time for your immature games, Qrow." She said, and Weiss looked at her in confusion.

"You two know each other?" Weiss asked, looking between the two.

"Geez, you Atlas Specialists think you're _soo special,_ dontcha?"

"It _is_ in the title." Qrow took a few steps forward, a mischievous smirk on his face.

"Well, you know what you really are?" He asked, and Winter's eyes narrowed.

"A bunch of sellouts. Just like your boss." Qrow's eyes cleared, where they were previously clouded with inebriation, they were now sharp pits the color of blood.

"I'm not sure what you _think_ you're implying, but I've heard _enough_." Winter spat at Qrow.

"Oooh, I heard too. I heard Ol' Ironwood finally turned his back on Ozpin." He responded, and Weiss felt her confusion mounting with the second.

"Ozpin?" The heiress said, and felt Winter's hand on her shoulder, pushing her back.

"Weiss, it's time for you to go." She said, and Qrow scoffed from across the courtyard.

"Listen to big sister, Weiss. She'll protect you, just like Atlas is going to protect all of us." He said, and Weiss could _see_ her sister tense up.

"If you won't hold your tongue, then I will _gladly_ remove it for you." Winter said, her voice dripping with anger. Qrow, meanwhile, merely smirked, running a hand through his hair to pull it away from his forehead.

"Alright then. Come and take it." He said, with a smirk. Weiss didn't even see her sister move, only noticing Winter's absence from her side when she saw Winter lunge with her sabre, missing Qrow by inches.

In the crowd that had gathered behind Weiss to watch the fight that had erupted, a man with brown hair not much longer than Qrow's made eye contact with the older man, the two smirking briefly at each other before the other man disappeared in the time it took for Qrow to block a strike from Winter.

…

The elevator opened, depositing Alexander onto the Vault floor, the eerie lighting still sending shivers up his spine. He walked through the room with purposeful strides, a large bag slung across his back. He walked up to the life support machine, watching the heart monitor beep quietly in time with Amber's heart. He dropped the bag behind him with a huff and a thud, wiping the sweat that had accumulated from his brow and had dripped down his face. He walked to the other side of the life support machine, typing something into the number pad on the side, before a loud hiss rang through the vault.

Alexander quickly pulled a syringe and a glass bottle from a pouch around his waist, removing the syringe from the packaging, and filling it with the liquid in the glass bottle before pushing another button, and the lid of the life support machine opened vertically. Below him, Amber took a shuddering breath, and the heart monitor quickly starting beeping erratically. He stabbed the syringe into Amber's chest and depressed the plunger, and, after a few seconds, watched the heart monitor stabilize.

He let out a breath, clenching his hand on Amber's shoulder before slowly removing the syringe, and watching her for a bit, after which she opened her eyes, her brown eyes fluttering as she slowly woke up. She looked around her, noting the eerie flames lighting the Vault, before her eyes locked on Alexander, a fist shooting up, and landing on his chin, knocking him onto his back on the floor next to the machine. He lay there dazed for a moment before sitting up, rubbing his chin as Amber stood on shaky legs, her feet bare on the tile floor, the only clothes she was wearing being white sweatpants and bindings around her chest.

"What the hell is going on?" She rasped, looking at the Specialist who was now rummaging through the large bag on the ground, and throwing clothes towards her over his shoulder. He stood up, looking at her after she hurriedly dressed herself.

"This is kinda super fucking complicated, so I'm gonna need you to follow my lead a bit here. Ironwood has taken control of the Vytal festival, the people that tried to kill you are here, probably competing, Ozpin was going to transplant your aura into a young woman named Pyrrha Nikos, and I'm about to sneak you out of here." Alexander said, looking at his best friend, wearing her golden boots, staff held in her right hand, but otherwise dressed in an Atlesian Specialist uniform, complete with white camo cap. Amber looked understandably confused, but didn't ask questions as he pulled a perfect likeness of her out of his bag, hooking into the life support machine that was letting out one, single, sustained beep until he connected the heart monitor to the look-alike, at which point it started beeping again. The woman looked horrified as Alexander lowered the hatch of the life support machine, but followed him to the elevator at the other end of the Vault, bag once again slung over Alexander's back.

"I like the scar, makes you look roguish." Alexander said, and Amber started chuckling, following him through the grounds of Beacon, pulling her hat minutely farther down her face in tandem with her partner, who had put sunglasses on to cover his eyes as the two wove through the crowd around the fight between Winter and Qrow, following some students after Ozpin dismissed them all in the wake of the fight. He led the Maiden to Winter's airship, walking up the ramp and into the cargo bay. The two of them sat on benches on opposite walls of the cargo bay after Alexander hit a button that closed the bay doors.

"So, where exactly do you want me to start?" He asked, looking at her with sad eyes.

…

"Let's just recap real quick, so I know I'm caught up to speed." Amber said, looking at the Specialist across from her.

"Ironwood is now running security for the Vytal festival, the woman who attacked me, as well as her lackies, are all here at the festival, likely disguised as students, you, Qrow, and Winter are basically the only people doing anything to try to stop something from happening, the nature of which you're not even sure of, Ozpin is _definitely_ hiding a lot of stuff from you and probably Qrow as well, Qrow and Winter are only _pretending_ to hate each other, and you and Qrow are, like, ninety percent sure that whoever is orchestrating whatever is going to happen will not stop with Beacon. I get all that right?" She asked, her eyes searching Alexander's face, who nodded, before stopping himself.

"Well," Amber sighed, "Qrow and Winter do not get along at all, so saying they're _pretending_ to hate each other is a bit of a stretch. They probably didn't have to dig too deep for that little show they put on in the courtyard." Amber nodded in understanding, before her eyes darkened, looking at her hands, her left eye lighting up as a ball of fire lit up between her palms.

"How do I still have this, can you answer that?" She asked, looking at Alexander.

"I don't understand all the science behind it, you'll need to talk to Doctor Polendina for that, but from what I _do_ understand, what was slowly leeching your powers was a Grimm parasite injected directly into your bloodstream. Thankfully, before we met up in Oasis, I stopped at the house of a guy named Shou Tucker, whose research ended up proving to be invaluable. Though he was a disgusting person, the work he did with controlling the Grimm through parasites ended up giving Dr. Polendina a big boost in the right direction of the antidote I gave you." Alexander said, playing with the hinge of his sunglasses.

"The parasite was linked to the woman specifically, and by neutralizing the parasite I broke the link between the two of you, though you'll only be at half power until she dies, or something happens that strips her of her aura. Until then, we'll have to be careful. Not only are you presumed dead by everybody but Qrow, Winter, Quentin, the woman who attacked you, and whoever she works for, they are also still looking for you. But that should be fixed if they get that far. They'll think they killed you, that woman will think she has all of the Fall Maiden's powers, and you'll still be standing." He said, still pointedly avoiding her gaze.

"Alexander." She whispered, and he looked up at her, his expression pained.

"Who or what did you put into that life support machine?" She asked, and he shook his head, looking away from her again, before taking a deep breath.

"Dr. Polendina has been working for a long time on artificial intelligence. He succeeded in giving an android both a fully functioning artificial intelligence and giving her a usable aura. One of his theories following that success was that if you could transplant an artificially generated aura onto a coma patient, they might wake up from their coma, that if you gave a civilian an aura of the level of a Hunter, then their body might be able to fix itself." Alexander replied, and Amber covered her mouth in shock.

"And that young woman?" She asked, her voice shaky.

"A woman whose parents desperately hoped that Dr. Polendina was right. When he was not, they decided to pull the plug, but Dr. Polendina and I had a different idea that regretfully involved lying to her parents. Some plastic surgery and one chemical insurance that she will stay in her coma later, and when she finally passes, it will be peacefully, at the very least." He said, looking at the ground, grief written across his face. Her face fell, but she swallowed and nodded.

"Okay. So, do we have a plan? What do I do?" She asked, expecting him to respond immediately, and when he didn't, she looked up at him, smiling sadly at her.

"It depends on how and when the attack happens. Until then, I'm sorry to say, but you're going to have to hide." He said, not even reacting when her hand slammed down on the bench next to her, the ring bouncing around the cargo bay a few times.

"Are you kidding me?!" She yelled, standing up abruptly, Alexander copying her barely a millisecond later. He stepped right up to her, staring down at his partner.

"Are you trying to tell me that you feel up to par right now? After over a year in an induced coma? On life support? Aura can do pretty great things, but if nothing else, you lost important muscle mass that you don't have much time to gain back." He asked, and she curled her lip into a snarl up at him.

"I'm as good as ever. I want to help." She said, her voice almost a growl as she stared up at the emotionless mask that covered Alexander's face. She didn't have time to react before his fist was buried in her gut, knocking the air out of her lungs, and forcing her back down into the seat behind her. Amber weezed slightly as she tried to get her breath back, her aura popping and cracking around her, trying to fix damage that wasn't there.

"Two years ago, you would have caught that, Amber, and at the very least, given me a black eye for my troubles. Give yourself time to recover." He said, and, the fight properly drained from the Maiden, sat back down in the seat he had previously occupied.

"Alright, fine, I'll fucking wait this out. Where'll I be hiding for the time being?" She asked, an arm wrapped protectively around her midsection, her brown eyes still full of reluctance.

"Winter, Qrow, and I are all staying in 'separate' rooms at a hotel in the city. We'll set you up in what would have been Winter's room. It's more private." Amber nodded, before turning her head away from the light that filtered in from the cargo bay doors opening, successfully hiding her face as well, though they closed after a moment open, and when she turned her head back, it was to see Winter Schnee staring at her in surprise.

"Alexander, I didn't realize, when you said, 'cause a distraction', that she was what it was for." The Specialist said, looking between Alexander and Amber with a quizzical expression.

"Well, it was a fun fight to watch, at least. We managed to catch the end of it." He replied, with a smile. Amber eyed Winter from the bench, her brown eyes clouded with suspicion. Amber was surprised when, a few moments later, Winter turned to her, hand extended towards her.

"Pleasure to meet you again, Amber. I'm glad that the stress of being the Fall Maiden hasn't quite gotten to you yet." She said, Amber's eyes widening in surprise as she shook Winter's hand with a dumbfounded expression on her face. Amber looked over at Alexander, who had stood when the two women approached each other.

"Ozpin's keeping things from us, and that will likely hurt us more than he is likely to admit when push comes to shove. We can't afford to have that kind of secrecy between each other." He said, and Amber nodded in understanding.

"We should get going. Don't want to draw unwelcome attention."

…

Alexander sat on the bed in Amber's room, one hand on the bedpost next to him, while Amber sat at a small round table off to his right, the two of them watching as Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai fought Yatsuhashi and Coco. Amber's eyes were narrowed in anger, her left eye glowing ever so slightly, the wood underneath her hand starting to smoke, while the bedpost Alexander had a hand on let out an audible crack from the pressure he was applying to it.

"So, they're Haven students, now?" Amber snarled from the table, and Alexander nodded slowly, thinking to himself.

"So it would seem. I wonder if they act so brazenly out of lack of fear, or out of ignorance." Alexander said, standing up and taking a step closer, watching the two teenagers closely.

"Either way, they know that you and Qrow saw them and know what they look like. It's foolish of them to parade around as they are." She said, and Alexander shook his head after a moment of thought.

"Maybe not. They might be aware that I had left, but not that I had returned, and it's a good bet that Qrow wouldn't see this, as he is likely with his nieces. No, this is calculated. They're putting their bets on the assumption that you, Qrow, and I are the only ones that can link these two to the woman who attacked you, and with Qrow likely distracted, you in a coma, and me away in Atlas, they made a solid call." Alexander said, and Amber nodded her head, conceding the point, before pulling out her Scroll and sending Qrow a message.

"Shame. A good bet, but the dealer stacked the deck."

…

"You girls know those two?" Qrow asked, the casual smile that usual split his face now gone, eyes fixed on the display, having forcibly switched it from the video games his nieces wanted to play. Yang and Ruby looked between each other, confused.

"Yeah, Emerald's a friend. We've never really talked to Mercury, but he seems alright." Yang said, missing the flash of fear that shot through her sister's eyes when she put some thought into the situation.

"Be careful around them, alright, girls?" Qrow asked, and Yang and Ruby nodded, though Yang did so with some reluctance.

"Uncle Qrow?" Ruby said, causing her uncle to turn his head, his crimson eyes zeroing in on her own metallic irises.

"You didn't think you'd get out of losing in video games so easily, did you?" She asked, and he laughed, changing the display back to the fighting game the three of them had been playing previously.

"Not a chance, squirt." He said, pulling out his scroll, ruffling Ruby's hair as she sat down next to him, Yang taking a spot on Weiss' bed.

…

Alexander stood next to Qrow, discussing something quietly, both on the far side of Ozpin's office from Ozpin himself. Meanwhile, Pyrrha quietly rode the elevator up to Ozpin's floor, the only sound the quiet hum from the mechanisms of the elevator. Pyrrha quickly walked across the office to take a seat across the desk from Ozpin, not noticing the two men she passed on the way.

"Well, it comes as no surprise that they have chosen _you_ to move onto the final round of the tournament. Your performance has been exemplary." He said, with a proud smile. Pyrrha, however, merely shook her head.

"Thank you, Professor Ozpin, but I would have never made it this far without my teammates." She replied, her humility causing Alexander to quirk an eyebrow.

"Personally, I think it's the other way around." Qrow said, loudly drawing her attention to the two men behind her. She opened her mouth to reply, but Alexander spoke quickly enough that she didn't get the chance.

"I mean, in a sense, she's right. She never would have been able to enter the tournament at all if she didn't have a full team." Alexander said, and Qrow chuckled.

"I'm sorry, I don't believe we've ever been introduced?" Pyrrha said, standing up from the chair she sat in, and turning to face the two men.

"You're right, we haven't." Alexander said, making Qrow laugh again, until Ozpin cleared his throat loudly, causing the raven-haired man to do his best to swallow his mirth.

"Miss Pyrrha Nikos, I'd like to introduce you to Specialist Alexander Wallace," Alexander raised a hand, throwing her a slightly mocking salute, "and Qrow Branwen. They are trusted colleagues of both myself and General Ironwood." Pyrrha turned away from the men, looking at Ozpin behind his desk.

"Professor, if you don't mind me asking, why have you called me here?" She asked, and Ozpin gestured towards the seat.

"Please, have a seat." He said, though she looked hesitant.

"You're gonna want to take that, lass. Some of this is not news you want to hear for the first time while standing." Alexander said, and Pyrrha shot a look over her shoulder at the Specialist before sitting down.

"What is your favorite fairy tail?" Ozpin asked, and Pyrrha looked at him quizzically.

"I'm...sorry?" She replied, something that made a bemused smile emerge on Ozpin's face.

"Stories from your childhood, surely you must remember _some_ of them?" Ozpin said, and Pyrrha perked up a bit.

"Well, there's the Tale of the two Brothers, The Shallow Sea, the Girl in the Tower…" She said, looking to continue, but was cut off.

"What about the story of the seasons?" Ozpin asked, a mischievous spark in his eye.

…

"Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall." Pyrrha said, smiling sadly. "The Four Maidens. My mother loves that story."

"Would you believe me if I told you that _that_ one has been around since _I_ was a boy?" Ozpin asked, and Pyrrha laughed.

"You're not _that_ old, Professor." She replied, and Ozpin caught Alexander and Qrow shooting looks at each other on the other side of the room.

"Well, would you believe me if I told you it was true?" Ozpin said, and Pyrrha looked affronted, caught off guard, like her best friend had just tried to take a swing at her.

"I, uh, beg your pardon?" She asked, with an uncomfortable laugh when she realized that none of the three men in the room looked like they were even close to laughter.

"What if I were to tell you that there _were_ four Maidens in this world who could wield such power… _without_ Dust." He said, leaning forward a bit.

"You mean, like a semblance?" She asked, still looking at him in disbelief.

"I mean like _magic_." He said, with a smile.

"I, uh…" Pyrrha started, but was cut off by Qrow.

"Yeah, first time hearing it is _pretty_ crazy." He said, all mirth gone from his and Alexander's visages.

"You're… serious?" She asked, looking back at Ozpin.

"As a heart attack, lass." Alexander said, from behind her.

"Do we look like we're joking, Miss Nikos?" Ozpin asked, and she shook her head.

"No." She replied, searching her headmaster's face for something, anything, that might indicate that he wasn't telling the truth. "But… Why are you telling me this?" Alexander, Ozpin, and Qrow, all exchanged looks, a silent conversation seeming to happen, before Alexander finally shrugged, and Ozpin nodded.

"We are telling you, Pyrrha Nikos, because we believe that _you_ are next in line to receive the Fall Maiden's powers." Ozpin said, making the teenager look concerned.

"We?" She asked, tentatively. Right then, the elevator dinged, and out stepped General Ironwood and Professor Goodwitch, something that Pyrrha initially balked at, before looking at Ozpin with a questioning gaze.

"Wait, what is this? Who are you?" She asked, her voice strained with fear and trepidation.

"We are exactly who we seem to be." Alexander said, causing Pyrrha to turn to look at him. "The public knows us as headmasters, professors, hunters, and Specialists."

"Except we've got a bit of a part time job." Qrow continued.

"We're the protectors of the world." Ironwood said.

"And we need your help." Ozpin continued, looking Pyrrha in the eyes, his intensity hard to look away from.

"Fair warning, though, the pay's shit." Alexander said, before he and Qrow stepped first into the elevator.

…

"Welcome, Miss Nikos, to the Vault." Ozpin said, as the doors opened, and the occupants of the elevator were bathed in eerie green light. She froze as all but Alexander walked past her, only walking forward when she felt a hand on her shoulder, quickly passing Qrow, who fell behind her to walk next to Alexander.

"I'm sure that you have many questions." Goodwitch said, having slowed down to walk next to the teenager, who shrugged, her entire body language positively shouting her hesitation and fear, from her shoulders, drawn in towards her body, to her clasped hands and the quick, clipped steps she took to stay level with the professor.

"Maybe one or two." Pyrrha was looking around, eyes picking out small details where she could find them, like how none of the pale green flames that illuminated the room seemed to have any heat to them, or how it seemed that she was the only one whose steps made noise on the tile.

"I don't really understand. You said that I'm the next in line to receive the Fall Maiden's power. What do you mean by that?" She asked, looking at the professor next to her.

"Much like how no two summers are the same, no two Maidens are the same, as Maidens are no more immune to death than you or I. Everytime a Maiden dies, their power leaves them, and seeks out a new host, ensuring that we always have four Maidens, and that no one individual controls the power forever." Goodwitch said, and Pyrrha's brow furrowed.

"But... how does the power choose?" Pyrrha asked, and heard Qrow scoff from behind her.

"Through a series of stupid and convoluted rules." Qrow grumbled, earning a quick 'Qrow!' in response from the blonde professor.

"Don't get mad at him because he's right. It's those stupid and convoluted rules that took the choice of a normal life away from Amber!" Alexander shot back, causing Pyrrha to recoil away from the anger practically falling off the two men behind her.

"Anyway, at first, all that was known was that the power would only seek out young women, rarely older than their early twenties. But, as time went on, and people had more data to draw from, and see patterns in, it revealed that the process was far more... _intimate_ than it was originally thought." Glynda said, pointedly ignoring the two behind her and Pyrrha.

"I'm sorry, what do you mean by intimate, professor?" Pyrrha asked, hesitantly.

"As we understand it now, when a Maiden dies, the one who is in her final thoughts is the first candidate to inherit her powers." Glynda said, after a moment of thought.

"Unless that person's a dude, or some old hag." Qrow snarked.

"Then the power goes to someone random. And our jobs," Alexander said, motioning between he and Qrow, "Get _way_ harder."

"Why are you telling me this now? Why not wait until I've graduated, or at least until I have another year or two of experience." Pyrrha asked, looking not at her professor, but rather the Specialist and Huntsman walking behind her.

"Because we've ran out of time." Alexander said, his expression dark.

"Things are getting a lot scarier out in the world, tensions are high, Grimm attacks are becoming more prevalent, and they're attacking in greater numbers." Qrow continued, his scarlet eyes seeming to peer into Pyrrha's sould.

"It won't be much longer until the peace that everyone has been enjoying so much gets chucked out the window." Alexander finished, and Pyrrha's eyes widened in fear.

"You're not talking about...war, are you?" She asked, and this time it was Ironwood's rich timbre that answered her question.

"Not a war between nations." She heard Alexander laugh derisively at that.

"Goodness knows we've been working too hard for that to happen." He said. "All that you need to know for now is that one of the Maidens, a close friend of mine, Amber, was attacked."

"And, for the first time in history, part of a Maiden's power was _stolen_." Qrow added, as the six of them all drew to a halt in front of the life support machine that the now look-alike Amber lay in.

"Is that-?" Pyrrha started to ask, but was cut off by Professor Ozpin, who sighed heavily.

"The current Fall Maiden. Amber." Pyrrha looked surprised.

"She's still…" She trailed off, eyes flickering between the different monitors.

"Alive. Yes. For now." Ironwood said. "We're using the best technology available from Atlas to keep her stable, but there is quite a lot about this situation that is, well, unprecedented."

"How do you mean?" Pyrrha asked, and watched the faces of those around her fall, if that was even possible.

"We're not sure what will happen with her power when she passes." Alexander said, his voice heavy with grief.

"Won't the power just transfer to the next host?" Pyrrha asked.

"Well, look who's been listening." Qrow said, elbowing Alexander with a sly smirk. "She _is_ smart."

"Under normal circumstances, yes. But this is, well, a delicate situation. It is not uncommon for a slain Maiden's last thoughts to be of their attacker. And, to make matters worse, nobody has ever seen the power split like this before." Ironwood said, answering Pyrrha's question.

"For all we know, it will leave her, and seek out it's other half." Alexander said, looking at the woman he had put in the pod, prompting Qrow to lay a supportive hand on his shoulder that Alexander nodded in thanks to.

"Her assailant?" Pyrrha asked, and Qrow nodded.

"And that would not bode well for any of us." Ozpin said, turning to face his student, who after a moment of avoiding his gaze walked up to the pod, laying a hand on the glass. Qrow felt Alexander twitch ever so slightly, and tightened his grip a bit on the Specialist's shoulder. A second later, he felt some of the tension bleed out of Alexander when Pyrrha turned to face the five of them again.

"If all of this is true, then why keep it a secret? If this woman is so important," Pyrrha took a step toward them, her hand leaving the glass of the pod, "if we're truly on the brink of war, why not tell everyone?" She asked, looking outraged.

"As best we understand, it _used_ to be common knowledge." Glynda said, making Pyrrha take a step back, her anger growing.

" _Excuse me_?" She asked.

"How do you think legends and fairytales get started?" Qrow asked, taking a step forward, followed by Alexander a moment later.

"All stories and rumors have a grain of truth, even the most ludicrous ones. Some, like the story of the Maidens, simply hold a bit more water than the others." Alexander said, quirking an eyebrow as realization slowly dawned on Pyrrha's face.

"Our organization was founded to protect both mankind _and_ the Maidens. Those hungry for power hunted the Maidens in the hopes of inheriting their strength." Glynda said, as Qrow took a long drink from his flask.

"And, as you can probably imagine, the ones who succeeded aren't exactly the types that you would want to have running around with unimaginable power."

"So this brotherhood chose to remove the Maidens from the public eye, allowing them to fade away into legend." Ironwood said.

"'Course, not this group exactly, obviously. This all happened forever ago, long before any of us were born. We're simply… carrying on a tradition, I suppose." Alexander spoke, his eyes watching the teenager carefully.

"What we told you, and what we may tell you in the future goes against _hundreds_ of years of human history." Glynda said.

"Nobody would want to believe us. Frankly, if we had a choice, _we_ wouldn't believe us. It would cause an uproar." Alexander continued, and Pyrrha started to feel the weight of the gazes that were levelled at her.

"It would cause a _panic_. And we all know what that would bring clawing to our kingdom's walls. Which is why we would like to-" Ozpin said, but was cut off by his student.

"I'll do it. If you believe that this will help humanity, then I will become your Fall Maiden." Pyrrha said, her gaze deadly serious as she stared back at the slightly surprised gaze of the headmaster.

"That _is_ what you wanted, isn't it?" She asked, her anger starting to creep back into her voice.

"It's really not that simple, lass." Alexander said, and Pyrrha looked between him and Professor Ozpin for a few seconds before the headmaster stepped forward.

"Given Amber's condition, you won't be able to inherit her power naturally. However, General Ironwood believes that he may have a solution." Ozpin gestured towards said general, who raised his head staring evenly back at the young woman in front of him.

"For the past few years, Atlas has been studying aura from a more scientific standpoint. How it works, what it's made of, and how it can be used. We've made… significant strides, and we believe that we've found a way to capture it." He said, and Qrow scoffed.

"Capture it, and forcibly cram it into something else." The raven-haired drunk gestured towards Pyrrha. "Or, in your case…"

"That's-" Pyrrha started.

"Classified." Ironwood and Alexander both interjected.

"Wrong." Pyrrha finished.

"You are not alone in that opinion, however, desperate times call for desperate measures." Goodwitch said.

"And if these aren't desperate times, oh boy, I hate to see what _is_." Alexander said, making Qrow chuckle.

"We can't transfer Amber's powers to you, but we can give what those powers are _bound_ to." Ironwood said, pointedly ignoring the two men cracking jokes.

"Her aura." Pyrrha said, and Ozpin nodded.

"Her life would become intertwined with yours. The question is, however-" Ozpin was cut off by Qrow.

"What that would do to you." He said, and Pyrrha's eyes widened in fear, looking down at the floor, really anywhere but at Ozpin.

"There is no guarantee that the transfer will work, or that you will even be the same person if it does. I advise you to take some time to think on this matter, but you must understand that before the Vytal festival is over, we _will_ need your answer." Ozpin said, causing Pyrrha to turn and stare at the woman in the life support pod behind her, the redhead's emotions hidden from those around her.

"Amber's assailant has already made her first move, and there is no way to know when her next move will be." Alexander said, watching the reflection of Pyrrha overlay the face of Amber's look-alike.

…

"This is a mess." Weiss said, with a sigh, standing in the hall outside of team RWBY's dorm, where Yang was resting. Jaune opened the door to his room, and the entirety of team JNPR gathered at the entryway behind him.

"Is she doing okay?" He asked, and Blake shrugged dejectedly.

"She's… doing the best she can." She replied.

"Sorry to hear that." Alexander said, walking up to the group, Winter walking next to him, the two Specialists throwing a somehow more serious aura over the situation. Despite the joy that Weiss felt about seeing Alexander and her sister again, she couldn't bring herself to muster more than a sombre smile as a greeting.

"Ruby, always a pleasure. Blake, Weiss, lovely to see you two again." He said in greeting, almost pointedly ignoring the other team for the time being, three of whom were watching him and Winter with quizzical gazes. When he did finally look at JNPR, it was only after Winter spoke to them.

"Miss Nikos, a true pleasure to meet someone so skilled. We caught your last match, and you fought very well." Winter said, extending a hand to the redhead, who hesitantly shook it, her eyes darting cautiously between the two Specialists, something that was not missed by Ruby, whose silver eyes widened.

"Do you think Yang would object to our presence? We wanted to talk to her about something." Alexander asked, looking at Blake and Ruby, both of whom shook their heads.

"Lovely. We should get in there, then. After you?" Winter said, gesturing towards RWBY's door. A nod was all the teenagers got as a temporary farewell as they filed into the dorm room, the door clicking shut behind them.

…

"If you're here for General Ironwood, he just left." Yang grumbled from her spot sitting on Blake's bed.

"Well, bully for him. We're here to talk to you, Yang." Alexander said, and she turned her head, sorrowful lilac eyes flicking between the two pairs of bright blue, trying to decide which one to focus on.

"I know this is going to kind of be me beating a dead horse, Yang, but do you swear you saw Mercury attack you?" Alexander asked, watching her lilac eyes flicker crimson for the briefest moment before Yang set her jaw and nodded.

"He attacked me. That's why I hit him." She said, her expression fierce.

"Okay, but, Yang, I need to ask you something else. Did you hear or feel anything strange, did anything seem out of place?" He asked, his voice measured and calm, watching the blonde think for a moment before nodding.

"When he attacked, the crowd fell silent. I assumed it was because he attacked me." Yang said, looking hopefully at the Specialists, who looked at each other, whispering something quietly to each other before Alexander looked back at Yang.

"I have an idea, but, to be honest, there's no way to prove any of it. Until then, Yang, I recommend you stay here when you can, and that you and your teammates avoid Miss Sustrai and Mister Black at all costs." He said, and she gave him a look.

"Didn't they go home to Haven?" She asked, and Winter levelled an incredulous gaze at her.

"You really think that the type of people to trick you into assaulting your opponent would actually tell the truth about leaving?" Winter asked, and Yang's eyes widened.

"Thank you for your help, Yang, we'll leave you to your business." Alexander said, and two walked out, passing Qrow as they did, Alexander nodding at the older huntsman as they passed.

…

"Penny." The artificial intelligence turned at the cold voice, and found Winter walking towards her in the locker room she had been afforded for her upcoming bought.

"Specialist Schnee, lovely to see you. Is something wrong?" Penny asked.

"Not as of the moment, Penny. However, Specialist Wallace and I, and others, suspect that there will be tampering or outside influence in your match against Miss Nikos. I urge you to be cautious, and to stop the fight if anything suspicious happens. Can you do that?" Penny nodded excitedly.

"Oh, definitely! Is this something that should be brought to General Ironwood's attention?" She asked, and Winter shook her head.

"No. There is no need to notify the General. We have no reason to believe that this fight will be targeted, but be cautious, nonetheless." Winter said, and Penny nodded happily, saluting Winter, waiting for the Specialist to return the gesture to lower her hand.

…

Alexander practically prowled through the aisles of students, in his full combat get-up. Black combat boots clomped against the floor noiselessly, seeming to defy logic, and the only real indicator of his presence were the quiet rustling noises his white camo pants and white camo shirt made as he moved. His harsh gaze flicked from person to person, looking for the telltale green hair, his clean shaven jaw set in thinly veiled anger as the platform that Pyrrha and Penny stood on slowly rose into the air.

With Uranus' rifle slung across his back, and his pistols holstered on his thighs, he slowly started to descend through the rows, getting closer and closer to the front of the crowd, getting to the point where he was essentially level with Pyrrha and Penny as they started to fight in the arena. Alexander watched, out of the corner of his eyes, as Pyrrha lost her sword and shield to the Atlas mech, striking her sword out of her reach when Pyrrha tried to pull it to her with her semblance. When Penny reared back to strike, however, Pyrrha stopped moving altogether, freezing up.

"No." Alexander said, his eyes frantically scanning around him, looking, finally, across the stadium to see Emerald, her mint hair making her a beacon in the crowd for Alexander to lock onto. Alexander raised a fist, and swung it forward experimentally, not at all surprised when it rebounded off a kinetic barrier. He felt a cold anger settle into his gut as he raised a hand to his earpiece.

"All Atlas signals," He said, as Penny was ripped into pieces, and the stadium fell deathly quiet. "Beacon and Vale are under siege. Mobilize all available units, assume heavy Grimm and White Fang presence. All noncom units focus on evacuating the Amity Colosseum." He pulled his hand away from his earpiece, watching the screens around the colosseum light up red, and a woman started talking, but he wasn't listening, having already configured his earpiece signal to connect to his Scroll, and called Winter and Amber.

"Alexander, what the hell is happening?" Amber asked, the second the call connected.

"Beacon is under siege. Stay safe, and somewhat more importantly, stay out of sight, Amber, if you can. We don't need Goodwitch or Ironwood to see you and start asking questions right now." Alexander said, turning away and walking up the stairs, making it to the archway leading out of the colosseum as the woman over the speakers stopped talking and the screens turned to static.

"Winter, Atlas forces are already ushering people off of the colosseum and down to the city. We need to be at Beacon. Agreed?" He said, as the speakers announced an imminent Grimm attack and advised everyone to seek shelter.

"Agreed. Atlas Knights are already being dropped to help defend Beacon, but there are a lot of students down there at danger of being overrun." Winter said, and he barely caught it when she said, a moment later, "Including Weiss and Blake."

"Then we go to Beacon. Are you at the docks?" Alexander asked, as he himself stepped out onto the docks moments before crowds of students and civilians swarmed around him. Instead of listening for Winter's response, which wasn't coming, he looked for her telltale white hair. Pushing through the crowd proved much more difficult than he had originally anticipated, and it took much of the crowd clearing for them to meet, the final cries of a Nevermore cutting through the sound of the crowd.

"Where's your airship?" He asked, and instead of answering, she grabbed his hand and started pulling him through the crowd. It took them what felt like forever to reach the airship, but the boarded easily, and pulled away quickly.

"Amber?" Alexander said, putting his hand up to his earpiece.

"Yes?" She asked, the sounds of Grimm and Atlas Knights faint through her microphone.

"We might need you up here." He said, his eyes locked with the courtyard of Beacon, which was already overrun with Grimm.

"Send the airship for me, and I'll be ready when you need me." She responded, and her line cut off as the Specialists disembarked after Alexander gave the pilot Amber's coordinates.

"This is a mess." Alexander said, putting a few shots into an Ursa that looked their way while they surveyed the scene, some Atlas Knights dropping down from above, landing with a crash and a cloud of dust before they straightened and starting firing at the Grimm.

"Indeed." The two Specialists followed the Atlas Knights down the path, providing support for the group of mechs that were eliminating the Grimm easily. Their eyes focused on clearing out a footing for people landing to fight from, they missed Weiss and Blake running up behind them until the young women were right behind them.

"Alexander, Winter!" Weiss said, causing the two to look back in surprise.

"Weiss?" Winter said, before Alexander dove into her, pulling her to the ground with him when the Knights turned their guns on the humans behind them, leaving the Grimm to continue their wanton destruction.

"Fucking Watts." Alexander muttered, pulling Winter to her feet with him as the mechs surrounded the two of them. Weiss and Blake, outside the circle of Knights barely had to blink before the mechs were dismantled, sparking messes on the ground, and the two Specialists were approaching the Huntresses in training.

"This is our frequency. Alexander said, holding up his Scroll. "Put in one of these earpieces, and tune your Scrolls. Tell everyone you run into. The only way we get through this is unified. We can't be running around as individuals like chickens with our heads cut off. Alright?" He asked, and Weiss and Blake nodded, putting in two of the earpieces from the plastic bag he handed them.

"Good." Winter pressed a hand to her ear. "Can you hear me?" She asked, and when Weiss and Blake nodded, the Specialists ran off.

"Assume that all Atlas tech is hostile. We don't have the luxury of working through how to recode them right now, so just put them down like the Grimm. Unfortunately, that order has to apply to the White Fang as well right now." Winter's voice came clearly through the earpieces as the four of them ran through the White Fang and rogue squadrons of Atlas Knights with equal ease. More people started landing at the docks, and Winter and Alexander peeled off to run back and start coordinating with those that landed.

"Alright, everyone, I'm going to say this once." Alexander said, over the earpieces, as teams CFVY, SSSN, and JNPR, among others, scattered from the docks and started fighting Atlas mechs, White Fang, and Grimm alike.

"Someone is trying real hard to crush Beacon under sheer numbers. They have taken control of all Atlas mechs, released Grimm on the grounds, and airdropped White Fang members. Put them down, and make sure they don't stand back up. There is no room for leniency here." The cold anger underlying Alexander's words gave Blake pause, but she and Weiss continued to fight through the rank and file of the White Fang and Atlas Knights with little difficulty. An Alpha running to one side drew Blake's attention as a mech drew Weiss', and the teammates broke apart to chase their chosen prey.

"Ren and Nora are down! Paladins are making a push towards the tower!" Alexander heard through his earpiece, and he and Winter ran over as quick as they could, but weren't fast enough even with Winter's glyphs, barely showing up in time to see Weiss cut through the remaining standing Paladin with a summoned sword, something that made Winter smile. The ground rumbling brought the students still standing to a halt, and everyone's eyes panned over to watch another, upgraded Paladin slide to a stop about fifty yards from them.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me." Sun said, making Alexander smile.

"Take a breather kids. We've got this one." He said, dashing after Winter, who was skating along the ground over her glyphs, going wide right of the Paladin, prompting him to go far to the left, converging on the Paladin right as it started moving. It ran headlong into a large black glyph, bouncing off, and having to regain it's footing, only for Alexander to run forward, bo staff in hand, hooking it around one of the Paladin's vulnerable leg joints, and pulling it with him, his momentum amplified by a glyph of Winter's, causing the Paladin to fall to it's right, propelled downward by yet another glyph, so it slammed hard down into the stonework of the courtyard.

Winter dropped from above, her sabre cutting easily through the hydraulics on the back that held the entire torso in the correct position, and the machine slumped visibly before Alexander stepped back and pulled Uranus' rifle off his back and fired a shot through the Paladin, from front to back, a clean, sparking hole all the way through, causing the lights on the front and on the sensor module to flash dangerously, and the two Specialist quickly made space between them and the Paladin as it finally exploded, making a crater in the stonework. The two ran over to the group of students, some of whom were shakily getting to their feet as others helped them up.

"Everyone alright?" Alexander asked, getting confident nods from a few, a thumbs up from Weiss as she caught her breath, and some distracted thumbs up or nods from others who were checking themselves, their gear, or someone else, to make sure all was well.

"Where'd Blake run off to?" Alexander asked, and Weiss pointed.

"Yang just went to get her." Alexander nodded, looking at Winter, who sighed.

"Go get them. Weiss and I will find her partner." The older Schnee said, and Alexander smiled and hugged her before running off. He didn't make it far before he heard someone yell out in pain, and another, distinct voice in anger, and ran as fast as he could in that direction. He reached what was once the dining hall as Blake pulled herself over to Yang's body, noticeably missing her right arm, and felt his body go numb with cold anger that settled into his gut as he stalked through the rubble of the dining room, stepping carefully through and around the broken glass of the windows, and avoiding the splinters that littered the floor from the smashed tables.

"Blake." He spoke quietly, but his voice seemed to fill the room, his aura palpable, his eyes like blue suns in the pale light of the fires around them. The young Faunus raised her head, her eyes filled with fear as he stalked closer to the three of them, his eyes fixed on Adam's mask.

"Get Yang out of here, and get yourselves taken care of." He said, and she nodded, picking up her unconscious partner, and carrying her out. Adam turned, as if to follow them, but fell flat to the floor when Alexander put a sniper round into the aura protecting his back.

"You would attack a man when his back is turned? You humans are worse than I thought." The bull Faunus sneered, and Alexander dropped Uranus' rifle to his side, drawing his pistols, spinning them and connecting them wordlessly into a bo staff.

"Nothing to say? Humans are usually so quick to justify themselves, I'm surprised that you're staying silent in this regard." The White Fang leader continued as Alexander started walking closer to him.

"Anything I say will be moot soon. No sense discussing philosophy with a dead man." His cold tone, spoken barely loud enough for Adam to hear, caught the other man off guard.

"I have no intentions of dying here today, human." The masked man shot back, expecting something in return, only for Alexander to drop into a stance, his bright blue eyes doing a better job of lighting up his face than the fires were. Adam's lip curled into a snarl as he shot forward, swiping his katana sideways, only for Alexander to bat it away and smack Adam about the head and ribs as he spun around him. Alexander swept his legs out from under him, only for Adam to tuck into a roll, and pop to his feet a meter or so away.

Adam shot forward again, slashing quickly, only for every hit to be blocked or batted away with ease. Alexander finally smacked a particularly wild strike away, forcing Adam to follow it's momentum, and he disconnected his escrima sticks, smacking him several times around the ribs before slamming the ends into the Faunus' back, the lighting dust exploding violently, throwing him into one of the few tables that was unbroken, simply turned on it's side, though Adam's momentum snapped the wood down the middle.

The Faunus stood up shakily, and was immediately on the defensive as Alexander accosted him, his single sword barely able to move fast enough to block half of the strikes from Alexander's escrima sticks, and quickly found himself overwhelmed, and, once again, flying through the air from an explosion of dust propelling him towards the wall, slamming into it next to a window, knocking what little glass remained to the ground from his impact. He stood up, his aura sparking dangerously, clearly on its last legs as he brought up a hand to touch the blood running from the corner of his mouth, and his mask spiderwebbed with cracks.

Through his mask, Alexander could see his eyes darting around frantically, his pupils dilated impossibly wide in fear of the man who stood silhouetted in flames, two spots of blue visceral hatred staring down the White Fang leader, who brought his fingers to his lips, letting out a loud, piercing whistle. Moments later, as Alexander charged toward the Faunus, a dozen White Fang members, backed up by Grimm arrived, quickly obscuring his view of their leader as Alexander cut through them with an efficiency born of rage. It was not long until all of them lay dead at his feet, the Grimm dissolving into smoke, the blood of the Faunus starting to stain the concrete of the floor as he calmly walked over, picking up Uranus' rifle, and slinging it back across his back before running back towards where he last saw Winter.

When he reached her, it was to see her helping guide people onto airships while Dr. Oobleck and Professor Port spouted off about a mandatory evacuation. He ran over to Winter, and the two embraced. When they pulled away, it wasn't far, so they could still speak without being overheard.

"Amber is up above, ready for this. Are you sure this is the best move?" She asked, and he hesitated for a few moments before nodding.

"We have to do this. Now we know what we're up against, but they'll need time to properly defend Haven. We can give them that time, but we can't do it stuck in Atlas." He said, and she nodded grudgingly, pulling him back in for another hug.

"Okay. Then we do this right." She said, and he nodded.

"I found Ruby!" Weiss yelled, and Alexander and Winter jogged over, smiles on their faces.

"Jaune and Pyrrha are still missing." Nora was saying, as the Specialists joined them.

"Look, that giant Grimm keeps circling the school. Even the White Fang are pulling out. We have to go, now!" Sun said, and Alexander nodded.

"He's right. These four need to get medical attention right away. Ruby and Weiss, however, can come with us to find Pyrrha and Jaune." Alexander said, looking at Winter, who nodded hesitantly, looking at her sister with a sad gaze. The heiress looked at him in surprise, but her partner looked at him approvingly, her silver eyes full of determination. As the four of them ran towards Beacon tower, Alexander looked at the two teenagers.

"You have your earpiece in, Weiss?" He asked, and she nodded, before drawing to a halt to answer a call on her Scroll while at the same time, Alexander fiddled with his Scroll, setting his and Winter's microphones to constant broadcast.

"We will, are you okay?" Weiss asked, before the line went dead, and all four looked at each other.

"She's at the top of the tower?" Alexander asked, something Weiss and Ruby could only numbly not in response to.

"We'll buy you two time once we get close enough." Winter said, and he smiled gratefully at her.

"Thank you." He replied, looking at Ruby. "When we fight far enough through the Grimm, you and I are going to climb the tower, alright?" He asked, and she nodded. This was the cue for them to start their rush, pushing through the ranks of Grimm, shots flying everywhere, glyphs appearing and disappearing as fast as possible, and summoned Grimm from Winter running alongside them, batting smaller Grimm out of the way, and grappling with the larger Grimm as the four humans ran through the mess. Soon, they found themselves at the base of the tower as the top was sheared off by the Grimm dragon with a loud crack and rumble.

"Now." Was all Alexander had to say before a line of glyphs appeared on the side of the tower for Ruby to dash between, while a glyph under Alexander shot him up into the air, carrying him about halfway up before he started to slow down, another glyph sprouting underneath him to fire him the rest of the way, he and Ruby stumbling their way onto the top of the tower as Pyrrha collapsed to the ground, a glass arrow through her heel, and Cinder walking towards her, her bow held in her left hand. Alexander shot forward, tackling Pyrrha to the side as Cinder released her arrow, leaving a line of fire etched into his shoulder, and Ruby stuck, dumbfounded, near the edge of the roof.

It took Cinder notching another arrow, and Alexander bodily blocking this one, the glass arrow sticking through his right shoulder as he hunched over the exhausted Pyrrha for Ruby to finally do anything, her eyes lighting up silver like the moon, the light spilling outwards as Cinder notched a third arrow, turning to the young girl she had only just now noticed. She pulled back, but Alexander stood and fired a shot into Cinder's left shoulder, pushing her off balance enough that she could do nothing as Ruby's eyes exploded with light, washing over all of them with her cry. Alexander was thrown down next to Pyrrha as the Grimm dragon slowly froze to stone perched on the tower, and Cinder quickly fled down the tower, aided by her stolen powers for her safe descent.

"Can you walk, Miss Nikos?" Alexander asked, slowly standing up over the Mistralian, who shook her head. With a sigh, Alexander snapped the tip off the arrow embedded in his shoulder, and pulled the other end out, his aura sparking to fix the hole in his shoulder, a sigh coming out when his aura was done.

"Alright. I'll carry you and Miss Rose down, then." Alexander said, throwing the armored teenager over his uninjured shoulder before picking up the younger teenager as well, choosing to ignore how Pyrrha was crying her eyes out over his shoulder.

"Winter, can I get a glyph to help me down?" He hadn't realized how weary his voice sounded until then, as a glyph met his foot as he stepped off, carrying him slowly down to the ground, as the Schnee siblings fought the Grimm around them. He landed, and a Beowolf materialised, taking Pyrrha from his one shoulder, and Weiss taking Ruby from his other, holding her partner gingerly as she looked sadly at her sister and Alexander.

"Go Weiss. We'll buy you some time to reach the docks, keep the Grimm from getting anyone else today." Winter said, quietly, her eyes misty. Weiss opened her mouth to protest, but Alexander quickly shut her down.

"Go, Weiss! This isn't up for debate!" He yelled, and she nodded, sprinting off, a pale white Beowolf in tow as she ran. When she reached the docks, she was met with a party, including Sun, Ren, and Nora, who looked like she was about to cry. Sun wordlessly took Ruby from her arms, and Nora easily took Pyrrha from the Beowolf, which looked at Weiss for a few seconds before dissolving.

"We heard everything. They set their mics to open broadcast." Sun said, tapping the black earpiece he had been given a long time ago by Alexander. Weiss didn't say anything, just led the group back onto the dropship, where someone had wired their earpiece into the PA system. Weiss watched out the window as they took off, watching as her sister and Alexander were slowly backed away from the docks and back towards the tower, flashes of white and blue going off all around them.

"On your right."

"Beowolf to the left."

"Cover me, summoning Nevermore."

Some laughter. "These fuckers don't quit. You reckon they'll ever run out?"

"I can't see that happening anytime soon." Was Winter's response. They must have managed some sort of last respite.

"I love you Winter, you know that, right?" Everyone on the ship was deadly quiet.

"Of course, you idiot, we've been dating for almost four years." Winter replied, and Weiss felt Sun's arm around her shoulders as she started shaking with tears. She couldn't even bring herself to _try_ to maintain her persona, curling into his chest, her hands curling into fists around his vest.

"They look seriously mad." Alexander said.

"Well, we did kill a lot of their friends. On your left."

"I've got it. Watch that Major."

"Alexander, are you okay?"

"Nothing I can't walk off… Fuck!"

"Alexander!"

"Goddamit, get off of me, you fucks!" The feed cut out, and Weiss heard silence again, punctuated only by the sound of herself and others crying.

"We must be out of range of their earpieces." Sun said, dully, his voice lacking any emotion as he blinked back his own tears. Weiss stepped back, wiping her eyes furiously.

"How long until we can get people to Beacon to start clearing it out?" She asked, and he looked at her sadly.

"Weiss, I dunno…" He trailed off, looking at her grief stricken face.

"Then I'm going to find someone who does the second we land." She said, her jaw set, staring at Sun's blue eyes as he grabbed her shoulders.

"Weiss, I'm…" He started, and she shrugged off his grip easily, going to sit on the ground next to the passed out Ruby, clutching her partner's hand like a lifeline, effectively shutting herself off from the rest of the world immediately.

…

"Get off me, you fucks!" Alexander yelled, kicking off one Creep, and firing a shot through the head of another as he heard the telltale whir of an airship slowing to a stop above him and Winter, the ribbons flowing in a barely tangible breeze as Amber dropped out, her eye lit up, her staff spinning, fire and lightning decimating whole swathes of Grimm instantly before she even landed. The second she did, she swept her staff again, shooting Alexander and Winter up into the air, both managing to grab the end of the loading ramp of Winter's ship. Winter pulled herself up first, and helped Alexander up a moment later, the two of them joined by Amber, who landed in a flourish of wind, breathless but okay as they walked on board, where they were alone but for the pilot.

"Weiss is gonna be _pissed_ when she finds out." Amber said, looking at the two Specialists who had settled heavily into their seats along the side of the cargo bay.

"Probably, yeah." Alexander said, idly playing with Winter's hair, which had come out of it's bun during the fight. They were squeezed tightly together, looking much the worse for wear, covered in scratches and cuts, Grimm dust, and their uniforms torn in several places, but mostly they just looked tired.

"So, where should I tell the pilot we're going?" Amber asked, and Alexander looked at her with a wry smile.

"You know when we spoke about getting the band back together?" He asked, and Amber's lips pulled into a smile.

"I'll tell him we're heading to Vacuo, then."

…

 **A/N: Hey guys, hope you enjoyed the chapter. Reviews, follows, whatever, are all always welcome, as are PMs if you don't want to ask me questions or whatever in a review. Thanks again to Bulba Fett, who's a great guy, and if you haven't checked out his stories, I highly recommend that you do so. See you all next chapter, PEACE!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY in any way. This is a fan written story, obviously, and all rights belong to Rooster Teeth Productions. Please support the official release.**

…

Ch 13: Stalling for Time

…

"When they take the truth, don't listen

When they take the food, go fishing

When they come for you, who steps in

The opposition

Who?

Opposition"

-Invisible Inc., _The Opposition_

…

 **One Week After the Fall of Beacon**

Ianthe swept her long violet hair away from her face with a sigh, watching the television in her kitchen with a melancholic expression as she pulled her erratic hair into a bun. The newscaster was running through all those confirmed missing or dead from the Fall of Beacon as Hunters slowly pushed outwards, creating a larger safe zone around the hospital. Every day, the numbers of confirmed dead mounted, but Ianthe didn't pay attention. The only person she knew that was there had long been confirmed dead while buying the last airship of Hunters enough time to escape with the wounded. She hadn't felt so empty since she lost Pausanias on a mission before the Fall.

Muscle memory kicked in, and before she knew it, Ianthe was slumped on the couch, mindlessly staring at the monitor in her living room, a tumbler in one hand, a fifth of the strongest vodka Vale could legally export to Vacuo on the table next to her, already planning on losing her morning to a haze. Her plans, however, were drawn to a halt when, as she was bringing her first drink up to her lips, she heard knocking at her front door. Ianthe stood up, her bare feet tapping lightly on the tile floor as she grabbed her bow from the coffee table and walking in front of the door, her deep green eyes narrowing as she heard the knocking again.

"It's open!" She yelled, already knocking and drawing an arrow of deep purple energy that crackled softly against her cheek. The wooden door swung open, and she loosed the air a moment before she recognized who was at the door. Alexander simply leaned his head to the side, the purple arrow crackling past his cheek while Ianthe stood, dumbfounded as her gaze flickered between the two Specialists who had been confirmed dead at Beacon, and the Huntress who she had watched drown over four years ago.

"No way. Not even you guys are that good. I'm still drunk from yesterday. Or asleep, or, or... something." Ianthe said, unable to move as the trio stepped inside, Amber closing the door behind them. Alexander broke into a smile before stepping up to the archer, pinching her arm, and pulling her into a hug when she jumped.

"We've got a lot to explain, and I'm sorry for that. Give us a chance?" Alexander asked, and felt her nod tearily into his shoulder.

"Awesome. You have a coffee maker?" He stepped back, his hands still on her shoulders while she wiped her eyes.

"In the kitchen, follow me." She said quietly, leading them into the kitchen, where Alexander started making coffee for the four of them while Amber, Ianthe, and Winter sat down at the kitchen table.

"So, to start off, I have to explain something to you that you're not really going to believe." Amber said, and Ianthe laughed drily.

"I just watched two of my friends, who should be dead, walk into my living room. I have a pretty high bar for unbelievable right now." She replied, and Amber smiled ruefully.

"Well, what do you know about the story of the Maidens?"

…

"So, Maidens are real, only a Maiden can access the relics in the academy vaults, people were hunting you, which is why you faked your death, and they're the same people who orchestrated the Fall." Ianthe said, her coffee untouched as she stared at Amber's brown eyes. The Fall Maiden nodded, and Ianthe let out a heavy sigh.

"And you want me to help you guys basically run interference for them while other people prep Haven so that they can be more prepared than Beacon was?" She asked, looking at Alexander and Winter.

"We know what we're up against now. Their cards are on the table, but we can still stack the deck before we even have to draw." Alexander said, and Ianthe nodded.

"Alright, I'm in." She said, and Alexander looked at Amber in surprise.

"That easy?" Amber asked, and Ianthe nodded.

"Don't have anything holding me here anymore." She muttered, her gaze falling to her hands clasped around her coffee mug.

"The engagement fell through?" Alexander asked in surprise, before he could stop himself, and he saw Ianthe visibly recoil

"She broke it off after Pausanias… Said I had changed, or some nonsense like that." Ianthe didn't say anymore, and Amber's hand on her shoulder signalled that the archer didn't have to.

"Well, welcome aboard, Ianthe. It's great to have you." Alexander said, and she raised her head with a small smile.

"It's nice just to see you guys again."

…

 **Two Weeks After the Fall of Beacon**

"Roland, you're not going to _fucking_ believe who is at the door right now." Lily said, her eyes wide in shock as she held the door to the house she shared with Roland wide open, staring at the four figures standing on her porch, three of whom were definitely supposed to be dead, and not standing on her doorstep wearing large hooded cloaks. Alexander drifted past her with a wink, followed by Winter, who in turn was followed by Amber, while Ianthe stepped forward to embrace her friend.

"Who is it?" Roland asked as he walked into the foyer, the large man drawing to an instant halt, his mouth dropping open as he surveyed the four people standing in his entryway as the door clicked shut. His eyes flicked over them, latching onto everything from the scar marring the side of Alexander's face, to the scars over Ambers eye, Alexander's tattoos, and lastly landing on Winter, who quirked an eyebrow questioningly at the large bear Faunus.

"No. Fucking. Way." He finally managed to say, causing Alexander and Amber to burst out laughing, and bringing a smile to Winter's face. Ianthe walked up and patted him on the bicep reassuringly.

"Yeah way, big guy. Yeah way." She said, before taking his blonde wife's hand, and pulling her in the direction of the kitchen so the two women could catch up, leaving him standing there, motionless as he just stared at the three of them before rushing forward and pulling Alexander and Amber into a hug.

"How is this even possible?" He asked, after stepping back, having relinquished his hold on the two of them after slowly squeezing all the air out of their lungs.

"Let's head into your kitchen, big fella, and we'll explain everything there." Amber said, patting the large man on the shoulder, and heading deeper into the house, where they found Lily and Ianthe chatting happily as they made tea.

…

"We're buying time. That's it?" Roland asked, incredulous. Alexander shrugged.

"For now. We know they're heading to Haven. We know that's where they'll hit next. As bad as the Fall was, if Haven falls as well, there may be no coming back from that." He said, and Roland nodded, looking at Lily, the two of them seeming to have a whole conversation silently. After a while, Lily smiled triumphantly and turned to look at the four others.

"We're in. Give us a few hours to get some stuff together first, yeah?" She asked, and Alexander nodded.

"The next ferry out leaves just before dark. We'll be waiting for you guys at the dock."

…

"So this ferry's heading to Mistral?" Lily asked, raising an eyebrow when nobody answered her immediately. The six of them were in Alexander and Winter's room on the ferry, which had little more than a bed on one side of the room, and then, in the opposite corner, a desk. The two Specialists hadn't done anything to the room yet, so their packs lay on the bed unopened while their cloaks hung by the door on hooks outside the bathroom.

"It will be stopping in Vale first. We'll have two days there before the ferry moves on to Mistral. I have some people I need to talk to talk to on Patch." Alexander said, and Lily nodded, looking around the room with a small smile.

"Man, it's good to be back. Just knowing that we'll be something is pretty great." She said, idly playing with the end of her blonde braid, her maroon eyes light with joy.

"Not much Grimm on Menagerie?" Winter asked, and Roland shook his head.

"Not much Grimm near _Kuo Kuana_. The rest is desert, and we're more than willing to simply let the Grimm stay out there all by their lonesome." He said, and Winter looked slightly surprised.

"The Grimm that live in the desert know that to attack Kuo Kuana almost assuredly means death. An occasional one will wander close enough that we have to kill it, but rarely do we ever venture out into the desert. When we do, it's with entire teams, and it's exhaustively planned. Teams get lost if they don't have ways out, or backup QRF teams to bail them out if need be."

Amber nodded thoughtfully, her head in the palm of her hand while her fingers lightly traced the scars that now populated the side of her face, something that Alexander had noticed her doing frequently since she'd woken up. He couldn't always place what was going through her mind when she did, but every once in a while, he caught flashes of both deep sadness and volatile anger. Alexander zeroed in on her this time, his full focus on her face while the other four continued to chat, the yogurt in his hand momentarily forgotten. As he was watching her, Amber's eyes filled with a visceral rage, and her eye lit up momentarily before her eyes widened and she shook her head, seeming to collect herself as the light around her eye slowly faded away.

Not long after, they all decided to turn in for the night, and Winter and Alexander found themselves alone in their room, both on the bed, with Winter's head in Alexander's lap, his back propped up against the wall behind him. Her eyes were fluttering a bit as she tried to stay awake while he finished his yogurt and tossed the empty cup across the room to rattle into the trashcan, the plastic spoon following it barely moments later. When Winter's head shifted in his lap, he reached down and squeezed her shoulder gently, causing her eyes to snap open, and her to sit up.

"Was I out long?" She asked, stifling a yawn.

"Barely moments. Were you planning on showering before bed?" He inquired, and Winter nodded as she walked over to the bathroom, her bare feet tapping quietly against the floor. When Winter came out of the bathroom, she had changed into her pajamas, and had a brush in her hand. Alexander was sitting on the bed, legs crossed, wearing flannel pajama pants, and a blank white t-shirt. He was scrolling through something on his Scroll, a frown creasing his face as he opened a message. Winter gently pulled his Scroll from his hands as she sat down in front of him, while Alexander took the brush from her and began brushing her hair.

"Oh, Weiss…" Winter trailed off as she saw the message Alexander had just received from her sister. He said nothing, though his silence spoke volumes to Winter.

Winter's free hand landed on Alexander's knee, and her fingers tapped something to him in the silence of the room. A small smile spread across his face as he momentarily pulled Winter's hair to the side and pressed a kiss against the nape of her neck.

"I love you, too." He murmured, his lips centimeters from her skin. He then leaned back and continued to brush her hair while her smile faltered, looking at the Scroll in her hands.

"She'll be okay." Winter said, into the long silence that permeated the room. "She has her team." Though she couldn't see him, she could tell that Alexander was nodding.

"She's at the Rose house right now." Winter mentioned, though she was sure that Alexander already knew that.

"She'll be okay."

…

 **Three Weeks After the Fall**

The sun lay low in the sky over Patch, staining the sky hues of orange, and throwing the forest in long shadows. A single cherry light bathed Alexander's face red, and lighting the hood of his cloak as well. Next to him, Winter stood patiently as they waited for the sun to come up. A few shouts came from inside the house, and a few seconds later, the front door was thrown open violently by Yang, her right arm now little more than a bandaged stump, in a tank top and sweatpants, and her hair pulled back into a ponytail. Her eyes were filled with anger as she stalked off, barefoot, to a garage of sorts off to the side of the house. Ruby followed her moments later, with Weiss only a few steps behind the younger teenager.

The door, as Qrow closed it, was stopped from closing by a large hand that, in Qrow's surprise, pulled it from his grasp, letting Alexander and Winter into the house, while Alexander closed the door behind them. Qrow, to his credit, shook off his surprise easily, and simply looked nonplussed when the pair pulled their hoods down.

"Was wondering when you kids would get in touch." Qrow said, leading them into the kitchen, where they could also watch the garage.

"You are far less surprised than the others we've talked to recently, Qrow." Winter stated drily, gaining a shrug in response.

"It made sense. With Amber hiding in the wings, I didn't see a way that you two would actually die. Wish you'd let me in on that bit of the plan, but whatever." The older man answered, taking a long draught from his flask. "Besides, Weiss wouldn't shut up about how you two couldn't possibly have died. Took a while to finally convince her otherwise."

"Weiss is a bridge we'll cross when we reach it." Alexander said, eyes fixed on the doors to the garage. "Heard you brought Nikos here." Qrow nodded, rummaging through a cabinet for some glasses and filling them with water for the Specialists.

"She's here for the time being." Qrow's eyes narrowed momentarily at Alexander before sighing reluctantly. "I'll get her and Ruby."

"Thank you, Qrow." Alexander said, leading Winter over to the table. Pyrrha was in a short sleeved shirt that matched her hair in color, and sweatpants much like Yang's, that didn't cover the bandages covering her left heel and ankle, which explained the subtle limp she walked with. Ruby, meanwhile, looked as ready as ever to take a fight with a Grimm, between her black combat boots, black corset and skirt, and the always present Crescent Rose across the small of her back. When the two teenagers came into the kitchen, it was to see two hooded figures at the table, holding hands, and seated with their backs to the entryway.

"Take a seat, ladies, if you would." Alexander suggested from under his hood, his voice giving Ruby pause for a moment before she and Pyrrha sat down across from the two Specialists as Qrow came to stand behind and between Alexander and Winter. When the hoods came off, there was a momentary flash of confusion before recognition filled both Ruby and Pyrrha's eyes, causing the redhead to clap a hand over her mouth to stifle her gasp, and the raven-crimsonette to jump out of her chair with a shriek.

"Good lord, kiddo, you're acting like they came back from the dead or something." Qrow joked, chuckling for a few seconds, before he recognized the deadpan stare he was receiving from Alexander and Winter while Ruby and Pyrrha continued to stare at them in shock. He shrugged the stares off, and Alexander and Winter looked back at the Huntresses in training across from them.

"Ruby, do you remember what I told you about the Maidens?" Alexander asked, and when the younger girl nodded, Pyrrha looked at her, concerned.

"Well, Amber is a Maiden. She was the real reason behind the attack on Beacon." Alexander said, and Pyrrha's face fell, as she stared at her hands clasped in her lap. Ruby looked almost morbidly fascinated.

"Was." Pyrrha spoke for the first time in a long while, her gaze still fixed on her hands. "She _was_ the Maiden." Ruby looked between Pyrrha and the three adults, confusion written in her silver orbs.

"Not entirely correct, lass, but also not entirely wrong. The woman you saw in the vault was not Amber." Pyrrha looked at Alexander, her brow furrowed.

"But- Ozpin was going to implant her aura in me…" She trailed off, looking at Qrow. "He didn't know." Ruby, having heard this side of the story already from Pyrrha, perked back up.

"She's how you survived!" Ruby shouted, jumping out of her chair in victory when Winter and Alexander nodded, though she stopped and sat back down when Winter fixed her gaze on the young woman.

"She is how we survived. However, she still does not have _all_ of her power, which means we can't directly challenge Cinder and her allies without running the risk of Cinder gaining control of all of the Fall Maiden's powers." Winter looked calm to the common observer, but Alexander noticed how she played with a ring on her right hand, betraying her demeanor, and revealing her unease at bringing someone as young as Ruby into this.

"What we can do, however," Alexander continued for Winter, "Is run interference with a few friends while you all, Qrow, and hopefully a few others, recover and prepare to defend Haven." Ruby looked confused.

"How do you know they'll attack Haven?" She asked, but instead of the adults answering, it was Pyrrha, whose eyes flashed with a fire.

"Because that's where they said they were from." The redhead said, looking at the Specialists and Qrow with an intensity that reminded them why she had been so feared inside the arena. "We'll be ready this time." Alexander smiled widely in response.

"That's what I like to hear."

…

For the first time in weeks, Weiss saw Pyrrha in her armor. It was dented, scorched, scratched, pieces were missing, and there was still a hole in her boot where Cinder had shot through her heel, but she was wearing it, and it caused Weiss to draw to a halt when she saw Pyrrha put her circlet on. It was strange, but every movement Pyrrha made sent Weiss back to that night, every time the light didn't reflect quite as it used to off the hoplite's outfit, because of a dent in the metal, or a long scar on the brown leather corset, Weiss didn't see the bright hopeful sun of Patch, but instead a broken moon, the howls of Beowolves cutting through the air. Before she realized what was happening, Weiss had fallen to her knees, her breathing ragged, and her eyes squeezed shut as she tried to hold back the tears.

"Weiss. Weiss, are you alright?" The heiress looked up, through tear-filled eyes, at the redhead kneeling in front of her, a hand on her shoulder, and eyes full of concern. Weiss nodded slowly, taking a few deep breaths, and wiping her eyes.

"Sorry, just, seeing you in that armor brings back a lot." She replied, and Pyrrha smiled comfortingly.

"Well, Ruby was talking about changing my look. I think her obsession with weaponry has finally branched out into armor as well." That made Weiss laugh a bit as the redhead helped her to her feet.

"Of course it has. It was only a matter of time." Weiss noticed the look of confusion on Pyrrha's face at that, and decided to elaborate. "The first time she got a good look at your armor in a fight, she couldn't stop talking about what she thinks would make it better. At the time, it was infuriating. Now, though…"

"Now you just _wish_ that Ruby being overly enthusiastic was your biggest problem." Pyrrha finished, and Weiss nodded unenthusiastically, following the taller teenager towards 'the Workshop', as Ruby had named the garage near her house. Pyrrha opened the door to the workshop, letting Weiss step into the area first. The overwhelming smell of oil, gunpowder, lubricant, metal, and grease all blended into one scent that reminded Weiss distinctly of her partner, though Ruby usually carried the faintest smell of strawberries and roses with her as well. The workshop was lined with a number of fabrication machines along the three walls, with a large metal table towards the back, and Yang's motorcycle closer to the door. Ruby stood, oblivious to her visitors, in the back, at the table, working on something with a screwdriver, and music blasting from speakers in every corner. Weiss didn't recognize the song, but did recognize it as one of the many bands that Ruby enjoyed listening to while working.

"Ruby!" Pyrrha yelled, her hands cupped over her mouth. Her shout made the young woman look up in shock that quickly turned into a smile as she pulled out her Scroll and paused the music.

"Pyrrha! I was just about to go look for you!" The younger girl said, gesturing the two older teenagers over. When they reached the table, Weiss was shocked to see Milo and Akouo, despite Milo's destruction by Cinder, and Akouo getting left behind when Alexander carried Pyrrha down from the tower.

"Ruby, this- this is incredible." Pyrrha said, picking Milo off the table, and giving it a few test swings before spinning it into a javelin, going through a few moves, and then spinning it into a rifle, looking down sights briefly before smiling at the scythe-wielder. "Thank you, so much." Pyrrha's smile stretched across her face, and Ruby, uncomfortable, rubbed the back of her head, looking down at the table sheepishly.

"I mean, it's not that great, I didn't do much." Ruby muttered before Pyrrha pulled her into a hug.

"Seriously, Ruby, this means so much to me. The fact that you did this without any blueprints or any designs at all… I can't possibly thank you enough." Pyrrha steamrolled over Ruby, and Weiss smiled at Ruby's rapidly reddening face, clearly still unused to receiving praise.

"It's nothing. You needed a weapon, and I like making weapons, and it was really fun to make them from scratch again, even though some things aren't exactly the same, I mean, the shifting tech is probably newer than it used to be, and you'll have to make sure the sights on your rifle are calibrated right, but other than that I think I made them pretty identical to your originals…" Ruby kept muttering to herself, her gaze fixed on the table in front of her as she trailed off. Her quiet musings ground to a halt when Pyrrha gently laid a hand on Ruby's shoulder, causing the younger girl to look at the redhead. Pyrrha had a gentle smile on her face that Ruby found infectious.

"Thank you, Ruby." She said, and Ruby simply nodded while Pyrrha tilted her head, thinking something over. "Can I ask another favor from you?" Ruby nodded emphatically.

"Weiss reminded me earlier that I could probably do with a new wardrobe, and I was wondering where in town I might be able to buy materials for armor." Ruby perked up immediately.

"I was just about to go myself. Weiss, do you want to join us?"

"Sure, I have some shopping I'd like to do as well."

…

The ship that docked in Mistral was nondescript when compared to the other ships in the harbor, though it gained a few glances from some of the law enforcement on the docks when they noticed the contingent of six people standing near the bow of the ship. Three were in cloaks, three were not, and though the three without cloaks looked plenty threatening, one towering over everyone else on the ship with a large battleaxe in one hand, the other two still taller than average, and openly carrying weapons of their own, it was the three under the cloaks that drew the majority of the cops' attention as the six stepped off the boat. Two cops were on their way over to stop the six of them when they noticed a large bald dark-skinned man walking towards the group.

"Mr. Musashi, are these friends of yours?" One of the cops asked, causing seven heads to swivel towards him, pinning him in his spot. The tall sword-wielder regarded the man briefly before nodding.

"They are, officer, and their paperwork was put through and accepted well before their ship docked. If we could be on our way?" Quentin asked, turning to fully face the man and his partner, arms crossed over his chest. The officer was saved from speaking by his partner, who stepped forward.

"No worries, Mr. Musashi, just a friendly inquiry. Not detaining you or anything like that." She said, her hands held up peacefully. Quentin narrowed his eyes at the pair for a second before nodding, and leading his friends off into the city. The female officer waited until they were out of earshot before turning and punching her partner.

"You idiot! What was like, the first thing I told you?!" She yelled, and her partner held his shoulder, looking sufficiently cowed.

"To leave Mr. Musashi to his business."

Alexander chuckled from under his hood as the group walked away, having caught the exchange, and drawing the inquisitive gazes of his friends, but he waved them off, and they went back to focusing on walking through the more dangerous parts of Mistral. A few times Alexander noticed someone staring at them a bit too long, like they were looking for an easy mark, but they always left quickly when Roland looked in their direction. Other than that, though, the walk through Mistral was painless, ascending through the various levels of the city, slowly getting to safer and safer areas, until they finally reached Quentin's house, not far below Haven Academy. Once they were inside the house, Alexander and Winter quickly swept it, looking for bugs, but found nothing in the sizable house before gathering with the other four in the living room on the first floor.

"Alright, Winter and I are going to set up an op center in the basement, computers, file cabinets, wall of photos, the whole shebang. Quentin said that we can take any room that's open, and I'm assuming, correctly, that the master bedroom is closed. Anything else is fair game, I saw at least four guest bedrooms upstairs." Alexander said, nodding along with the appreciative whistles of the others. "Give us a day or so to settle in, and we'll get down to business. Any questions?" He asked, pointing at Amber when she raised her hand.

"Will the basement include a wall with red string connecting a series of newspaper clippings and pictures like a stalker wall?" She asked, and Alexander cracked a smile.

"Indeed it will. If for no reason other than for the whole aesthetic, you know?" He answered, and the others laughed before heading upstairs while he and Winter headed down the stairs to Quentin's spacious basement. While lecturing at Haven Academy didn't pay huge sums of money, working as a glorified bounty hunter for the police did, adding on top the amount of money he received from standard Hunter contracts, the fact that, up until recently, he had been staying in a low rent one room flat on a lower level, Quentin was actually incredibly wealthy. All of this combined to a house that would not have been out of place being used as an inn or hotel.

"This basement is rather incredible." Winter said, looking around the wood floored and walled basement. The room was empty but for a few tables and computers that Quentin had had delivered before the six of them arrived.

"This whole _house_ is incredible." Alexander said, snaking an arm around Winter's waist. She leaned into his side, her hand resting on top of his.

"I wonder where we'll live when this is all over." He mused, looking down with a quirked eyebrow at Winter when she scoffed.

"Weiss would fight tooth and nail to have us stay at the manor. Though we'll have to share with her team and any other friends she makes along the way." Alexander chuckled, his arm tightening around Winter.

"She did always want a larger family."

…

 **Two Months After the Fall**

Pyrrha deflected a swipe off Akouo with a ring that pierced the clearing, immediately having to jump over another slash that threatened to take off her feet. On the defensive, Pyrrha could do little more than defend against the red and black blur that was Ruby Rose as she spun around the hoplite, rose petals drifting through the air behind every movement she made. Finally, Ruby left an opening, and Pyrrha's foot shot out in a straight kick that could have crushed Ruby's chest in, had it landed. Instead, the younger girl exploded into a cloud of roses that coalesced behind Pyrrha, leaving Ruby standing dumbfounded for a heartbeat before she resumed her attack. Pyrrha blocked the slashes without too much difficulty, as was often the case in their spars. Pyrrha's defense was uncomplicated, but Ruby left little room for any counterattack.

Finally, Pyrrha huffed in aggravation, and the blur that was Crescent Rose was surrounded by black, and was stopped dead in the air for less than a second. Less than a second, however, was more than enough time for the champion, who closed the gap between her and the younger girl easily, bashing into Ruby with her shield first, then slashing down with Milo. By this time, however, Ruby had regained control of her scythe, and deflected the slash from Milo off to the side, dancing back several steps and dashing forward in a cloud of rose petals. When she swung her scythe, she felt something pulling at it, and the scythe missed Pyrrha by inches, though it caused her hair to whip around from the ensuing air current.

Pyrrha kept taking steps forward, only for Ruby to dance away at the last second, keeping a consistent distance between them of about five feet, just close enough that Crescent Rose could still be effective, but far enough that for Milo or Akouo to be useful, Pyrrha had to close the gap somehow. After a particularly vicious flurry of attacks from Ruby that left Pyrrha with a sparking aura, the hoplite used Crescent Rose's momentum to rip it out of Ruby's hands and throw it away with a black shroud around it. Pyrrha easily closed the gap during Ruby's momentary panic, putting Milo and Akouo on her back as she did so, landing a knee to Ruby's stomach before grabbing the younger girl's outstretched arm, spinning, bracing herself, flipping Ruby, and slamming her into the hard ground.

"Nuts." Ruby said, after a few panicked moments where her diaphragm spasmed and refused to let her draw a breath. The speedster pushed some bangs out of her eyes with a huff, wiping some sweat from her face in the process. Pyrrha laughed breathlessly, tired and sweaty herself. As Ruby stood up, she brushed some dirt from the tan blouse she now wore under a corset held in place just below her clavicle. Her stockings now stopped a few inches shy of her skirt, which was similar to her old skirt, except that it stuck out less from her body. Her left stocking was also now decorated with the image of a rose, the stem of which disappeared under her much taller combat boots, which now had four separate buckles and straps on each boot. Her cloak was now held by a single metal clip shaped like her emblem, and was near her right shoulder.

"You did better that time, though you still need to work on fighting without Crescent Rose." Pyrrha said, helping Ruby to her feet. The champion fighter had kept her boots largely the same, except for some minor repairs to fix the metal, so her legs until about mid thigh, were still encased in metal, lending itself well to a tendency, that Ruby had observed often, where Pyrrha will frequently pepper kicks into her boughts while her arms were occupied, often catching her opponent off guard. She had switched out her black skirt for tight shorts of the same color, but they were worn under a looser red skirt with several strips of gold armor in the front and back. The skirt itself stopped a few inches above her boots. She had kept her emblem on her right hip, though instead of fastening a skirt, it now fastened several belts that hung over her armored skirt. She now wore a long sleeved black shirt under her corset, which was now more of a maroon color, with a strip of white down the center where previously it had just been a lighter brown. Golden pauldrons covered her shoulders and fastened to her corset, and she now wore vambraces of the same metal. She still wore black gloves that disappeared under the sleeves of her shirt, but her fingers and back of her hand were now covered with segmented golden armor that was sewn into her gloves. Her gorget had been done away with, but she had kept the bracelet on her upper left arm, and her headpiece, which held back her hair that she had started leaving out of her previously favored ponytail.

"Yeah, but I don't have anyone who could teach me. Yang's still recovering, and even if she could teach me, neither she nor Dad fight in a way that would benefit me." Ruby bemoaned, as she collected Crescent Rose and clipped it onto her back.

"I could teach you, kiddo." Qrow rasped, as he walked to the pair from the Xiao Long-Rose house. Ruby's face lit up with a smile, and she practically tackled her uncle in a hug that he returned happily.

"What're you doing here, Uncle Qrow?!" Ruby exclaimed, looking up at her mentor, who threw a thumb over his shoulder.

"I have some news from our friends in Mistral, but I'll be staying for a bit." Qrow replied, and Ruby's smile widened. Qrow pulled a paper out of his pocket and threw it to Pyrrha, who caught it easily, but froze when she saw the headline. Ruby looked at her concerned.

"What is it, Pyrrha?" She asked, and Pyrrha didn't answer for a few seconds as she read the article.

"Nicolas and Helen Nikos, parents of champion fighter and Huntress-in-training Pyrrha Nikos, and Hunters in their own right, were attacked earlier this week by the White Fang. It is believed that the attack in question was connected to Miss Nikos' role in the defense of Beacon Academy. Fortunately, several masked individuals came to the Nikos' aide, driving the White Fang back, killing several of the terrorists in the process. The whereabouts of the Nikoses are unknown at this time." Pyrrha spoke quietly, reading verbatim from the article. She looked up at Qrow with tears in her eyes. "Are they okay?"

"Your parents are fine. Alexander and his friends showed up in time. Your home is, well, a bit trashed, and your parents are currently in hiding, but they are okay." Pyrrha nodded her understanding, looking back at the article for a few seconds then handing the paper back to Qrow, who stuffed it back in his pocket.

"But, news aside, I'd love to teach you. You don't fight drastically different from me just yet, and I'm around for a few days." He said, and Ruby smiled wide, though it faltered momentarily when she glanced over at Pyrrha.

"Are you okay with that, Pyrrha? We probably won't be able to train as much together while Qrow's around." Ruby looked honestly regretful, and Pyrrha laughed it off.

"Don't worry, Ruby. I'll just train with Weiss. Switching sparring partners would probably do us some good." Ruby nodded happily, looking at Qrow expectantly, who drew his fists up in front of his face with a smirk.

"If you want to start now, kiddo, nothing's stopping you."

…

The White Fang was not usually an overly cautious collection, and they had briefly felt emboldened after the death of the Hunter and one of the Schnees. That hadn't lasted long. Sienna Khan had warned everyone to be more cautious after several groups of faunus had failed to return from their missions, but even so, there were cells that refused to listen, and decided to push the advantage they had. With the world in chaos after the Fall of Beacon, with General Ironwood slowly withdrawing Atlas troops from all around the world, the White Fang, especially in Mistral, had felt nigh untouchable.

So that is how almost twenty faunus in White Fang uniforms found themselves outside the city of Mistral, in the forest, just off a road, waiting for their chance to strike a dust shipment. It was a bold move, if nothing else, to attack a shipment so close to the city, but they were confident that nobody would be able to stop them.

Four trucks, each with a shipping container of dust, trundled down the road at a leisurely pace, none the wiser to the terrorists lying in wait in the forest. Eventually, the lead truck reached where the White Fang were waiting, and listed to the side as one of it's tires was shot out with a loud bang. The rear truck was stopped in a similar manner, and together the two trucks prevented the middle two from moving forward or back, and the drivers of all four trucks hopped out, pistols in each of their hands, barrels sweeping across the dark shrubbery, searching earnestly for their attackers.

All at once, the White Fang attacked, and the truck drivers were overwhelmed almost instantly, before they even let off a shot or a shout. Celebrating their victory, the White Fang members started pushing the rear truck off the road. The faunus strained and pushed, and finally, after a considerable effort, managed to push the truck off the road. It was then that the first faunus fell, screaming, a hole shot clean through his calf. The others started scrambling, looking for where the shot could have come from, and three were dropped in moments, as pulsing arrows of purple energy tore holes through their chests, causing them to fall gasping, to the ground, desperately trying to gather breath.

As the standing sixteen started getting desperate, a figure, wearing dark clothing, and a black metal mask, burst from the shadows of the forest, first planting a knee into one of the faunus' chest, slamming them into the truck behind them, and dropping the faunus to the ground, several of their ribs broken. Another's head was grabbed and bounced off the metal of the truck, sending the faunus to the ground with stars in their eyes. The figure moved again, closing the gap between them and several more faunus, dodging around swipes from swords before grabbing a faunus' arm, snapping it at the elbow, and throwing them into several of their comrades, who all disappeared in a flash of fire that incinerated them almost instantly.

A second masked figure, this one shorter and slimmer than the first, emerged from the forest, a staff in hand, which they spun, sending wind spiralling into a few more faunus, slamming them against the side of a truck, and leaving them slumping to the ground, unconscious.

A sword spun through the air from the forest and buried itself several inches into a faunus' chest until a third masked figure exploded from the darkness, wrenching the sword from the faunus' lifeless body, and using it to immediately relieve several more of their lives. At this point, all of the faunus lay on the ground in various states of incapacitation, and a fourth figure joined the other three, looking at them briefly before pulling a flare gun out of their cloak and firing a shot up into the air, leaving a bright green contrail of smoke as the flare arced through the air, lighting up the area around them easily, and casting the entire scene in very odd shadows. A few minutes later, the figures had all disappeared into the forest, and several airships descended on the scene.

…

"Man Alexander, black is _so_ your color." Ianthe said, looking at the Specialist out of the corner of her eye. Like the three women, he wore all black, from his combat boots to the mask that covered his entire face in metal that had been painted a matte black but for the lenses over his eyes, which were made of toughened and reflective glass. His black cloak shifted as he turned to look at her, and she got a good look at his mask, which had been custom made for him, just as the others' masks had been. Alexander's had a thin gap down the middle of the mask from the crown of his head to his chin, and there was a deeper and wider gap over his mouth, which looked like a manic grin stretching from cheek to cheek, and brass rods from the top of the grin to the bottom, looking like gaps between nonexistent teeth.

"Maybe don't look at me with your mask on. It makes me uncomfortable." She said, and he shrugged, looking away as they continued the trek through the forest. Where Alexander's mask had been made with fear in mind, and little else, Ianthe's was a solid piece of metal, with a bright red crosshairs painted over her left eye, which also had series of lenses that gave the archer a variable zoom in one eye.

"I have to agree with her, sorry." Amber said, and Alexander's shoulders visibly slumped. Amber's mask had the scars on her face done in light green on the mask.

"I think it looks dope." Lily said, from behind her mask. A thick solid band of gold ran across the mask's forehead, going down far enough to frame the upper halves of her eyes while white and gold wings connected to the mask at the temple, helping frame her eyes before covering the cheeks of the mask.

"Thank you, Lily. I do too." Alexander responded, looking back briefly at the valkyrie.

"Are you all finally done?" Winter asked, from where she leaned against a tree, in essentially her old military garb, but with black and purple in place of white and blue. Her mask did nothing to hide the shock of white hair that stood out like a beacon in the forest. It was the main reason that she and Roland rarely, if ever, joined the other four on the missions that required the utmost stealth. Her mask, like the others, was matte black, except for a pale blue line marring the black around her left eye, mimicking her sister's scar.

"You look far better in white, Winter." Lily said, and Alexander could _feel_ Winter roll her eyes in exasperation as she turned to walk with them back to Mistral.

"I look better in lighter clothing, period. We can't all still be moody teenagers like Alexander." Winter deadpanned, ignoring Alexander's indignant shout in favor of the peals of laughter that came from the others.

"Most of my wardrobe is lighter colors!" Alexander threw his hands up indignantly, and Amber patted him on the shoulder comfortingly.

"It's okay. We know it's not a phase, and we're here to support you in this trying time." Amber joked, and Alexander slumped again, grumbling to himself as he walked ahead of the group, doing his best to ignore their laughter at his expense.

…

"I don't know, Yang, I just… have no idea what to do. I've lost motivation. I looked up to them for so long, for them to be gone…" Weiss's eyes were locked on her hands, which were covered in black gloves that stopped at her wrists. She had picked up a pair of high-heeled black boots that stopped just below her knee, and were what her perfectly creased white pants were now tucked into. She wore a light blue vest over a white shirt with the top button undone, and a white military style waistcoat was draped across the back of the chair she sat in, her elbows resting on the table in the Xiao-Long-Rose kitchen. In Yang's opinion, where before she looked similar to her sister, but distinctly her own, the heiress had now managed to merge Alexander's style into the outfit as well. The blonde sighed heavily from her seat across the table from her teammate. Talks like this had become common between the two of them since Blake had left, their loss becoming a binding agent between two young women who otherwise would not have sought out each other for comfort.

"Well, you could do what my uncle and my dad did when Summer died." Weiss looked up at Yang, her brows furrowed in confusion.

"What do you mean?" She asked, and the stump of Yang's arm moved, as if she was going to scratch the back of her head, but she stopped the movement with a scowl before she spoke.

"I'm not sure if they actually did or not, but I'm pretty sure that the two of them went out to get tattoos to remember her. Apparently it's super common in Vale for Hunters to do something similar for every teammate they lose." Yang said, her voice lacking the enthusiasm she had had before the Fall.

"How do you know about that?" Weiss asked, and Yang took a while to respond, taking a while to think over how she wanted to say what she wanted to.

"One of Alexander's friends, Professor Olympia, helped me make Ember Celica, and he showed me a tattoo he had for one of their teammates who died. He said that Alexander had a different one, and their third teammate's was unique as well, but they all went together to get them done, I guess. Alexander _was_ tatted up, wasn't he?" Yang looked at Weiss, whose gaze had dropped to her hands before she nodded.

"He was. It was one of the things my father hated most about him." She stared at her hands for a long moment before looking up at Yang with a sorrowful frown on her face.

"I think I need to take a day trip to Vale."

…

 **Three Months After the Fall**

The Branwen tribe was unlike any other bandit tribe. They were the oldest surviving bandit tribe, and they seemed almost impervious to getting caught in illegal activities, helped by the fact that they moved camp far more frequently than any other tribe, and that they rarely terrorized a specific area for long. Other tribes were habitual in that they would set up a camp, terrorize that area, and then move on before they brought too much heat on themselves. However, he biggest thing that separated them from the rest would be that they, unlike other tribes, were led by a graduate of a Hunting academy. Because of Raven's imperious aura, and the safety she brought the tribe, it was unlikely that the men and women that followed her would question anything that she did.

So Alexander was not surprised, months back, when he had been allowed to enter the camp with little preamble and was welcomed with a noticeable lack of suspicion. Raven's word held a powerful sway over these people, and anyone she wanted welcomed into the camp, was. Simple as that. Now, months later, the bandits had come to terms with the strange masked man who would occasionally visit the camp. They were not outwardly welcoming, but they weren't hostile either, and in a bandit camp, that's about the best one could hope for.

"You found her." Alexander said, as he stood in Raven's tent, by far the largest in the camp. The raven-haired woman only nodded, looking down at her hands as she sat in a chair, her mask and sword off to the side.

"She's very young." He spoke again, his voice carefully flat, his face hidden behind his mask.

"Thank you so much for that helpful observation." She said, her crimson eyes snapping up to glare at him. He raised his hands placatingly, taking a step back.

"We're on the same side here, Raven." He replied, and she scoffed.

"No. I'm on the side that lets me live. It just so happens that you can help me right now." She bit back, and he shrugged his shoulders, crossing his arms.

"Six of one, half a dozen of the other." He watched her carefully for a few seconds while her eyes scoured his mask. "What matters, however, is that you can help us, and we can help you. You don't have to keep running, Raven." Her glare intensified.

"You're a naive fool if you think we can actually fight her." She responded, standing up to meet his eyeline. "You're no better than my idiot brother. Fools, the both of you." She turned to pick up her sword and mask, putting the white mask on.

"Fools we may be, but at least we are trying. Salem will come for you one day, regardless, if you refuse to help us. If you help us we stand a real chance. We can beat her subordinates, and we can beat her, too. But we need the Maidens to do that." Alexander took a step closer to Raven, but no closer, as her hand tightened on the hilt of her sword.

"If you want to keep running, that's fine. You can be a coward. Or you can choose to stand and fight. If you're right, and we stand no chance, then we'll all die anyway. If you're wrong, however, we come out the other side victorious, safe, and somewhat more importantly, _alive_. So, Raven, what'll it be? Run scared for the rapidly dwindling remainder of your life, just like you've been doing for years?! Or take a stand for once, and maybe have a real chance with this!" Raven's hand clenched even tighter on her sword as he yelled, and Alexander's hands drifted towards his pistols, but both stopped, their heads snapping to the side to stare at the entrance to the tent when they heard a faint rustling. A second later, Raven's young protege of sorts walked in, her light blue eyes flipping rapidly between the two masked individuals in the tent, her weapons, not unlike chakram, drawn, the barrels pointed at Alexander, who turned to face her, squaring up in preparation for a fight.

"Look Raven, the girl fancies herself a fight." He said, his head tilting to the side.

"Vernal, lower your weapons." Raven spoke carefully, her voice deathly quiet.

"Don't listen to her, girl. I haven't had a decent fight in forever. Come and have a go, if you think you're hard enough." Alexander taunted, leaning towards her just enough to be threatening. Vernal's hands gripped her weapons tighter, and she took a half step back towards the opening of the tent.

"Vernal, leave." Raven's voice was firm and confident, and the young woman looked at her for a moment, uncertain, but when Alexander took a sudden and threatening step towards her, she turned and ran out, the flap blowing open in her wake.

"Get out of my camp, _boy_. You're no longer welcome here." Raven spat at Alexander, and he turned and walked towards the entrance, but stopped halfway out, holding the flap open as he turned to look at her.

"Tell me, Raven, do you think you're any safer with the Spring Maiden in your camp? Just some food for thought." He let the flap fall closed behind him as he walked out, eyes following him through the camp as he did so, and he picked out Vernal in particular, removed from the majority of the crowd. She stood noticeably closer to Raven's tent than the others, and when Alexander was halfway through the camp, the young woman ran into the leader's tent.

Amber was waiting for him in the forest when he left the camp, looking at him expectantly, something he had to read through her body language, as her mask was fixed firmly on her face.

"She's not there. Her 'Spring Maiden' is just another bandit helping her further a masquerade. If she was really the Maiden, Raven would have let her flatten me into the dirt." Amber sighed heavily in disappointment.

"Where is the Spring Maiden, then?" Amber asked, and Alexander shrugged his shoulders.

"Raven knows, but she's not telling _us_ anytime soon."

"Qrow, maybe?"

"That's optimistic." Alexander replied.

"Worth a shot, though."

"I'll talk to him the next chance I get."

…

Mistral, as a matter of zoning and building policy, didn't have any buildings taller than four or five stories. Alexander knew for a fact, by the burn of lactic acid in his legs, that the building he now stood on top of was five. A few of the smaller gangs, who were starting to get mad about more people than ever interfering in their business had been, as several of Quentin's criminal informants had put it, 'incentivized' to try to bite back against, specifically, Alexander. Not that they knew who he was, but they recognized the mask. A group of about eight of them had spotted him in the market, and had taken off after him the second he took off. A short chase through the lower levels of Mistral later, a sprint up five flights of stairs, and Alexander found himself trapped, on a rooftop, with nowhere to go.

"Shit. Okay. Okay. No safe way down, guys coming through the door…" He trailed off, his eyes darting around the roof before widening, and walking over to the door, carefully, as he heard people pounding up the stairs on the other side. He stepped to the side, extending his arm, pistol in hand, so the barrel was leveled at head height. Finally, the metal door to the roof opened, and a woman with a bandana covering her hair took the first step onto the roof, only to drop to the ground with a hole in her head.

Alexander quickly jumped away when the second person in a bandana to step out swung a lead pipe at him, the hole on the end of the pipe making an eerie noise with every swipe. Alexander grabbed the hand with the pipe in it, spun the man, and yanked his hand up between his shoulder blades before giving him a kick back into the stairwell, causing the other gang members to dodge out of the way, leaving the man to tumble painfully down the stairs. Another one, this time with a bat, swung at Alexander's head, but the Specialist ducked the swipe, holstered his pistol, and grabbed the other end of the bat with both hands while the other seven gang members started to shake off their shock and stream out of the stairwell.

Alexander yanked the bat towards him, throwing the other man off balance, slamming a elbow into his temple, forcing him to drop the bat and stagger backwards, clutching his forehead in pain. A swing of the baseball bat dropped the man for good onto the ground, before a chain scraped against Alexander's aura angrily, cutting open the back of his shirt. A lead pipe to the cheek sent him spinning to the ground, his jaw aching as he rolled away, popping to his feet at a safe distance, eyes darting across the young men and women all across from him. He narrowed his eyes behind his mask as they approached him, brandishing chains, bats, and pipes. They slowly advanced on him, looking all too eager to attack someone.

"Now, I'm sure we can come to some sort of agreement. Let's say, we all walk away, and none of you have the burden of my life on your conscience?" He bartered, taking slow steps backward until an outstretched foot hit the low wall surrounding the roof. All he received in response were some angry glares, and more threatening swings of their weapons.

"Charming lot, you are." He muttered, eyes darting around as he assessed the people squaring up against him, taking careful steps closer every second or so.

"Ah, fuck this." He said, dropping the bat at his feet, and dashing forward. By the time he reached the woman he was running at, the others had realized what had happened, and were turning to attack him, but he had slammed a fist into the woman's throat, and pulled her in the path of the first bat when she recoiled. Alexander heard a crack from the woman's sternum, and shoved her toward the man that had swung at her, snatching the chain from her hands as she stumbled forward, gasping for air.

He caught a lead pipe on the chain pulled taught, and wrapped the chain around the pipe before yanking it out of the woman's hands, and quickly lashing her across the face with the length of chain. A bat to the shoulder sent him stumbling back a few steps, but he shot forward again, dodging the next bat swing, wrapping the chain around the man's neck, and yanking him off his feet with a loud gurgle that probably would have been a yelp of pain and surprise. A lead pipe smashed against the back of his head, and his eyes swum with black spots as he stumbled away, his aura sparking angrily.

"Four of you fuckers left, huh?" His eyes started glowing behind his mask as they ran at him, and he had to dodge and duck around bats and a pipe. Finally, he had an opening, and, ignoring the pipe he took to the back of the shoulders, he lunged forward, dropping his length of chain, and punching up into the woman's armpits, dislocating the shoulder with a loud crack, and dropping her to the ground, clutching at her noticeably displaced shoulder with a shout of pain. Alexander had to dodge around her body on the ground when he heard a whistle that foretold a pipe that missed him by inches as he rolled forward.

When he popped to his feet and turned around, it was to see three people who were angrier than before, if that was possible. He kept taking steps backwards, drawing his escrima sticks as he did so, until he was once again up against the edge of the roof. A particularly mad gang member sprinted towards him, yelling. Alexander sidestepped the bat swing, slammed his escrima sticks against the man's back, and, with an explosion of dust, sent the man careening off the edge of the building. Trying to ignore the loud squelch that ended the man's screaming, Alexander focused on the last two, holstering his escrima sticks.

"Come on then, you two, come and have a go if you think you're hard enough." He taunted, as he started taking a few steps forward. They didn't seem concerned at all, and watched him carefully like one might study a cornered animal. They split up, one on each side, forcing him to turn his head to look between them. Then they attacked. A pipe swinging for his head, a bat for his ribs. Alexander caught the pipe, taking the bat to the ribs with little more than a grunt, though pain exploded across his chest. He pulled the pipe, forcing the man off his feet, and slammed the end of the pipe into his forehead, dropping him to the ground with a large bump on his forehead, but Alexander had to jump back when the bat behind him sent pain exploding down his right leg coming from his hip.

Alexander turned and threw the pipe as hard as he could, watching with vindictive satisfaction when the pipe smashed into the man's face, breaking his nose with a crack. The man shook the stars out of his eyes just in time to see Alexander level his pistol at him and pull the trigger, dropping the man to the ground to join the multitude of other bodies on the roof, most writhing in some degree of pain. Alexander walked over to the woman whose ribs had been broken, and leaned down into her face, twisted in pain as it was.

"Tell your boss to leave me alone, or next time _nobody_ he sends will come back." He said, straightening up, ignoring the hateful glare levelled at him as he limped down the stairs and back into the city.

…

 **Four Months After the Fall**

"They're on Anima." Qrow said, dropping into the booth next to Alexander, who shot him a wry smile from under his hood.

"Obviously. Or else you wouldn't be here. But who's they, exactly?" Alexander inquired, making Qrow sigh.

"Ruby and Pyrrha's team." Alexander looked mildly surprised.

"All of them? I thought only the blonde guy would come." Qrow shrugged.

"Apparently the kid can't keep a secret." Alexander's mouth tightened.

"That could be a problem." Alexander muttered, getting a nod of agreement from Qrow.

"So, how far away are they?" He asked, and Qrow sighed again.

"Southwest peninsula, right now."

"On foot?" Alexander asked, whistling appreciatively when Qrow nodded.

"That's gonna take a while." Qrow turned towards him with a blank expression.

"No. Shit." The older man replied, and Alexander chuckled.

"Alright, you just deal with the Grimm where you can, and we'll try to keep anything else from reaching them." Qrow nodded, pulling himself to his feet with a sigh, not looking forward to flying back halfway across the continent.

"Oh, and Qrow." The older man stopped on his way to the door, looking back at the hooded man in the booth. "Talk to Raven about the Maiden, would you?" Qrow nodded reluctantly as he walked out, the wooden door of the tavern slamming shut behind him.

…

 **A/N: Hey all, sorry for the delay on this chapter, but classes have been absolutely brutal recently. I don't know when the next chapter will be up, but I'll try to post it as soon as I can. Thanks for the support, and, as always, reviews and all that jazz are encouraged. Thanks as usual to Bulba Fett, who's a big help. See you all next chapter. PEACE!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: We do not own RWBY in any way. This is a fan written story, obviously, and all rights belong to Rooster Teeth Productions. Please support the official release.**

…

Ch 14: Making Friends

…

"If I fall again,

I know it's wrong

You think I'm strong but I just pretend

Is it taking over?

Will it bury me?

Or will clarity become the cure for my disease?"

- _Disease_ by Beartooth

"A strong man doesn't need to read the future.

He makes his own."

-Solid Snake, _Metal Gear Solid_

…

 **Four Months After the Fall of Beacon**

Winter's hand tightened on the hilt of her sabre while she stood on the top of a cliff overlooking a ravine. The light of the half moon bathed the entire area in a pale glow. At the bottom of the ravine, at the end of a box canyon, was a sizable bandit camp. An easily defensible position, this camp, unlike the Branwen tribe's, was more permanent. Small huts and houses were built up along all three sides of the canyon, bridges connecting them to each other and to several larger, more central wooden buildings that were suspended on stilts. Behind her, she heard small scrapes that accompanied Lily's quiet gait as the other woman carried a limp figure over her shoulder towards Winter. The blonde, dressed in black, but without her mask, dropped the figure at her feet, and then joined Winter at the edge of the cliff.

"Who's your friend?" Winter asked, a glance thrown back at the feminine figure on the ground behind them. Lily shot a look back, as if she had momentarily forgotten about the woman before looking back down at the canyon.

"Information, hopefully, if they remember to come here before attacking." Winter nodded in understanding, but otherwise didn't move, her eyes slowly drifting towards the opening of the canyon. A few minutes of waiting later, and she saw the light of the moon glint off a scope a few hundred meters down the canyon. Barely a minute more passed in silence until she heard another person join her and Lily, making no effort to mask the thud of her boots on the grass.

"This the one?" Amber asked, and Lily nodded. Turning to watch, Winter saw Amber pull off the glove on her right hand while Lily propped the unconscious woman up into a sitting position. A touch to her ear piece, and then Amber's bare hand lay against the woman's forehead, and both women went completely rigid, muscles tensing in exertion. Several tense seconds passed, and Amber finally moved her jaw enough to grind out the words she was searching for.

"Far back corners." The words sounded pained, and like they took a great effort, but when Amber removed her hand from the woman's head, she immediately relaxed, breathing heavily, beads of sweat rolling down her jawline. Winter looked back down the canyon, and saw the scope that was reflecting the moonlight had moved, and something else, not a scope, had taken it's original place.

"Understood. We're in position. Over." Alexander's steady voice crackled over the radio, and Winter barely stopped the smile that tugged at her lips. Amber took a place on Winter's left, Lily on her right, and the Maiden brought a hand to her earpiece.

"We're ready." Amber said, lowering her hand for a moment before bringing it up swiftly, "Over." Roland's deep chuckle broadcasted well over the earpieces, and brought some much needed levity to the situation.

"I am in position as well, should you need the support. Over." He said, and Amber looked pointedly at Winter, who nodded, dropping to a crouch, her hand on the ground, a massive white glyph spinning to life around her as storm clouds started to roll in, and Amber started drifting a few inches off the ground. A few seconds later, and her glyph had stabilized, and Amber's hand was raised, poised to strike.

"Go." Alexander said, and a thunderous crack tore through the canyon as his rifle round shot through the air, followed by a crackling hum that accompanied Ianthe's shot tearing through the air as well. Both struck true, hitting both caches of weapons, ammunition and explosives that the bandits had stockpiled in their base, lighting the canyon up in brilliant fire, and tearing through the camp with abandon. Slowly, a number of Ursai emerged from the massive glyph behind Winter, each easily half again the size of a normal Ursa, and charged off the cliff, their impact with the ground muffled by the clap of thunder that followed several lightning bolts arcing through the air at Amber's command, smashing building supports to pieces as the Ursa ran rampant in the ensuing chaos.

Crowds of bandits emerged from their houses in various states of injury, limping, nursing burns, holding their ears, clutching broken limbs to their bodies, but dropped seconds later, either to the Ursa running through the broken and burning wreckage of the camp, or to the shots from the snipers at the entrance to the canyon. A minute or so in, the fire seemed to come alive alongside Amber's yell, sweeping after the survivors, consuming and turning to ash anything that was caught by the wave. The fire slowly burned itself out, and once it had, and the storm clouds had cleared enough, Winter looked down on a section of canyon that had once been green and lush, but was now grey with ash.

"Holy shit." Lily muttered, watching some ash slowly drift down to settle on the ground. Winter, though she would never utter something so crass aloud, was inclined to agree with the sentiment. The canyon, once lush with greenery, like everywhere else on Anima, was now a single black and grey scar on the landscape. All that was left of the village were some scorched wooden beams that jutted out from under the thick layer of ash. Winter watched as Alexander and Ianthe approached what was left, and started sifting through the rubble. Meanwhile, Winter had sat down, wiping sweat from her brow, while next to her, Amber breathed heavily from her position on her back, her arms thrown out along the ground above her head.

"No survivors." Ianthe voice finally crackled over the earpiece, the technology amplifying the rasp her voice had always carried, though it was no doubt worsened by the ash and smoke.

"Good stuff, everybody. Let's get walking. Defense force patrols aren't due to pass by here for another day and a half. I'd like to be long gone by then." Amber said, sitting up with a grunt, and happily accepting Winter's outstretched hand to help her get to her feet. Lily walked away from the lip of the canyon, swinging her sword nonchalantly before reaching their captive turned forced informant, who had yet to stir.

"Holy hell, Lily, what did you do to her?" Amber asked, as the blonde experimentally kicked the prone woman she was crouched above.

"Drained her of her aura. Took longer than it should have. She must have had some training." She replied, before raising her sword, and slashing down. A wet slicing sound followed the whistle of her sword, and Lily straightened up, pulling a vial of fire dust out of a pouch on her belt. She carefully sprinkled fire dust on the body, and then on the head, before stepping several feet away. Replacing the empty vial with a small red crystal held between her thumb and forefinger, she channeled her aura into it until it started to glow, and then tossed the crystal at the body and head, sparking a fire that quickly consumed the entire area around the body in a two foot radius. When the fire finally went out, like the canyon, there was little left but some ash, what looked like some bones, and a black scorched scar on the earth.

"Alright. We gotta get going." Amber said, carefully stepping around the circle, followed not far behind by Winter and Lily, wanting to get as far away from the destruction they had wrought.

…

"Who are they?" Salem asked, her voice eerily calm as she looked around the table at her… underlings. There was a long moment where nobody spoke, and her eyes stopped on each of them in turn. Tyrian, his manic grin threatening to split his face, Cinder, with that incredible rage, shuttered just behind her eyes, Watts, whose mouth and mustache twitched, as if he wanted to say something, but didn't dare to, and and Hazel, who was as bored and impassive as ever.

"Watts? Does nobody know anything about these… vigilantes?" Salem's eyes pinned him in his seat momentarily, and she felt satisfaction swoop through her when she saw the fear flicker behind his eyes.

"Not so far as I can tell, ma'am. They leave precious few behind that see them, and even then, they all wear masks. The most I've been able to glean is a description of one of their masks, and the group I had sent after him, of those that returned, were badly injured, ma'am." She tilted her head as the scientist spoke, absorbing every word he spoke.

"They have destroyed almost all potential bandit allies we may have found in Mistral, Watts. A lack of information, at this point, is unacceptable." Salem's eyes seemed to bore holes into Watts, but the only outward indication of his discomfort came from a twitch of his mustache.

"Of course, ma'am." He replied, when she briefly paused, her eyes unfocusing while she thought of something, then zeroing back in on Watts.

"Have your underlings start posting notices on the Hunter's boards. If you can't stop these fools, then we will kill their allies as well. I want all of the Hunters around Mistral in hiding or dead by the time we move to take the relic." Salem spoke, her tone dismissive and harsh. Watts could do nothing except nod and stand from his chair, recognizing when he was being dismissed.

…

"You think that merchant will be upset we stole his airship?" Alexander asked, looking at Winter, who sat in the copilot's seat next to him. She shrugged.

"He had a few cargo ships at his dock. I don't think he'll be overly upset if we return it in one piece." She replied, and he smiled behind his mask as he slowly pitched the airship into a steady descent towards a village that had a plume of smoke rising up from it. Maybe a thousand meters out, however, an explosion rocked the ship, causing Alexander to wrestle with the stick for control of the airship, trying to keep it in the air. Winter shot up from her seat and raced to the cargo bay where the rest of their friends were trying to get back to their feet after being thrown around by the impact. The hole in the floor from the initial explosion showed the trees below them in a blur of green that was broken by a massive flash of red that raced towards their airship. A glyph started to spin to life, trying to stop it, but it slammed through the matrix, and smashed into a wing with a larger impact than the first.

"This is gonna be bad. I recommend trying to hold onto something." Alexander said, over the intercom, and a few seconds later, the airship slammed into the ground a few hundred meters from the village, smashing through trees, sending dirt flying, and eating a massive gouge into the dirt behind them. When they finally stopped, Alexander pushed a button, making the glass of the cockpit go flying off, smashing into a tree with a crunch, and he pulled himself out of the crumpled mess that was the remains of the cockpit. Meanwhile, in the back, a metal fist smashed the cargo ramp off it's hinges, and Roland emerged in full armor, his axe held in one hand as he surveyed the area around them.

"Winter and Amber are out, over exerted themselves putting up glyphs and whatnot to save us. Lily's up, but bleeding something bad from a bad hit to the shoulder, and Ianthe should be coming out any second now." Roland said, his voice eerily calm, as Alexander joined him at the back of the crash. Sure enough, Ianthe came out, dragging Winter and Amber behind her. Alexander nodded at her, and threw Winter over his shoulder, motioning for Ianthe to do the same with Amber as Lily pulled herself from the wreckage.

"We need to get to the village. When we get there, Roland and I will deal with the bandits, you two watch over Winter and Amber." Alexander said, and Lily and Ianthe shared a look before nodding, and they followed him through the forest to the village, Roland in the back, his head on a constant swivel. Not long later, they reached the village they were looking for, and Alexander handed Winter off to Lily, who threw her over her uninjured shoulder. A large wooden gate stood before them, set into a large stone wall, and Ianthe and Lily stood off to the side as Roland slowly pushed one of the doors open.

Alexander and Roland slowly advanced into the village, eyes darting this way and that, looking for the group of bandits that should have been in the process of pillaging the village. Instead, they found themselves on one of the four streets that led to the main square, buildings on either crumbling to the ground, with several still on fire, and the two men drew to a quick halt. The street they were on was littered with rubble from the buildings, but they were still able to see clear to the center of the village, where a fountain had been smashed to pieces on the cobblestones. The steeple of a clock tower, clock and all, had also been slammed into the ground, scattering bricks, glass, and shingles across the square. As they walked toward the square, Ianthe and Lily not far behind them, the destruction started to worsen, with entire buildings reduced to rubble except for the foundation.

The square looked like someone had set off a bomb. Several deep gouges were cut into the cobblestones, ripping them out in a number of places. The steeple of the clock tower, which looked like it had once been attached to the town hall, hadn't been ripped loose, but had fallen off when something had destroyed the front of the building, leaving a gaping hole where the doors once were. Bodies of civilians were strewn about, and several bodies, likely Hunters, were still clutching at the weapons they had died wielding.

"What the hell happened here?" Roland asked, looking around the square at the splashes of blood and mangled bodies. Alexander walked over to a body and crouched down, covering his mouth with one hand as he examined the corpse. Without standing up, he looked around at a few bodies nearby, before his eyes locked on the remains of the western gate. A massive gaping hole, much like the one in the front of the town hall, stood wide open in place of the wooden gate, some splinters the only sign that there had once been something blocking the entrance. His head snapped to look towards the eastern gate, and finding it intact, albeit blocked by some rubble, stood up very slowly, his gaze now locked on the town hall.

"A massive Grimm attacked. And it hasn't left." Alexander spoke quietly, backing very carefully away from the town hall. Roland's hand flexed around the haft of his axe, and his armor clanked quietly as he turned and motioned for Lily and Ianthe to start moving toward the gate they had entered through. Alexander looked away for a moment, carefully eyeing the opening in the town hall, and when he looked back, Roland's armor had collapsed into a backpack of sorts, and the faunus' left hand was tight around one of the straps holding the backpack up.

The pair started following their teammates, but were barely ten steps out of the square when Lily stumbled over a chunk of rubble and fell against one of the crumbling houses. Her injured shoulder slammed into the brickwork, and an involuntary cry of pain slipped past her lips as she dropped Winter to the ground with a thud. Alexander, Roland, and Ianthe all froze in their spots, carefully turning to look at the dark hole in the town hall. Behind them, Lily pulled herself to her feet, and the first brick in the wall dropped to the ground with a dull crack, followed by the rest of the wall moments later. It took a few beats, but a low rumbling shook the village, shaking bricks loose across the town, sending a few more walls tumbling to the ground.

"Leave." Roland said, without looking back, but Lily picked up Winter and followed Ianthe out of the village at a light jog. The town started to shake as whatever Grimm was still there started to stir, and Alexander pulled out his escrima sticks while Roland hit a button on the strap of his backpack. In seconds, he was once more encased in armor.

"What do you think it is?" Alexander asked, and Roland shifted for a second in apprehension.

"If we're lucky, only a Morvudd, though they tend to stay away from cave-like dwellings. If we're unlucky… I'd rather not think about that right now." Roland answered, and Alexander nodded. Their conversation was stopped from furthering by an eerie, ear-piercing shriek that split the air, and felt like it cut right through them.

"I always did have shit luck." Roland muttered, and Alexander cracked a small smile that immediately disappeared as he and Roland had to dive for cover as a hail of strange spikes filled the space where they had previously been standing.

"What the fuck?" Alexander heard Roland mutter, as he dared a glance towards the hole as a figure filled it. A twisted, white, with black veins, perverted humanoid face was set into a large black lion's mane, and it's body was that of a oily black lion's as well. Large paws, each easily the size of Alexander's torso, slammed into the ground with every step, and it's back legs, reptilian in form, and scaled in patches of white and black, had massive talons that wouldn't have looked out of place on a dragon. A large tail, like a deathwalkers, came to a point in a stinger that was much smaller than the giant scorpion's. What it lacked in stinger, however, it made up for with spikes along the third of the tail closest to the stinger, and as Alexander and Roland watched, the spikes extended out slightly before the Grimm flicked the tail towards their hiding places, sending the spikes flying through the air at speeds that were just barely subsonic.

"Always hoped I'd never have to fight a Manticore. Especially not an old, weird, and mutated one." Roland muttered, and Alexander only nodded in agreement as the monster started pacing towards them.

"I'll draw spikes, you try to get close enough to hit it." Alexander said, and before Roland could protest, shot from cover, running on a diagonal that would take him past the Grimm's left shoulder. He felt a few spikes pull at his clothes, and heard the thuds of the spikes sticking into the cobbles and bricks behind him, but he didn't stop running until he heard the beast's paws thump against the ground as it turned to face him. Alexander hazarded a glance toward the monster in time to see Roland get batted away like a fly, the knight crashing loudly into a wall that crumbled on top of him.

"Fuck." Alexander muttered, as he felt the impacts of the spikes through the wall he was hiding behind. Another barrage impacted the wall, and one of the spikes got through, sticking about an inch out next to Alexander's shoulder, prompting him to sprint from cover the second the barrage was over, managing just barely to get into cover again as a spike ripped through his shirt near his shoulder.

A loud slam drew his attention, and he saw that while Roland had managed to land a hit, as evidenced by the axe stuck several inches into the Manticore's right shoulder, he had been thrown away again. As Roland got thrown away, something sparked angrily against the faunus' aura, and when the Manticore lowered it's paw, Alexander caught a glance of claws that were about the length of his forearm.

"This isn't going to work!" Alexander yelled, while Roland's axe was ripped from the Manticore's shoulder and returned to his hand before the armored man hid in cover. The wound on the Manticore, which leaked black ooze, quickly stitched itself shut before their eyes.

"No shit!" Roland yelled back, and Alexander opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by a purple blaze of energy sticking into the Manticore's leg. The beast let out a deafening roar, baring what looked to be three rows of long, sharp, and bone-chilling teeth set into the abomination's mouth. Alexander leaned out from cover, and unloaded every bullet he had toward the beast, but instead of continuing to react in pain, it let out another ungodly screech that paralyzed he and Roland where they stood. Alexander's eyes went wide, his pupils dilated in fear, he felt his throat close shut, and the hair on the back of his neck stood on end as the eyes of the monster turned to him, the creatures mouth still open. The red pupil and black sclera locked with his, and, without conscious thought, Alexander's semblance activated, lighting his eyes up with a brilliant light as the spikes flew through the air towards him. After what seemed like an eternity, Alexander was finally able to force his body to move when the spikes were halfway to him, and he wrenched himself back into cover, watching the spikes slam through the airspace he had just occupied, his chest heaving.

"Roland, can you give me a boost?!" Alexander yelled, not bothering to look over at the man, leaning out from behind the wall just enough to see the Manticore. A rush of energy flooded through Alexander's body, building to a breaking point, and his aura started to visibly manifest. His hands and feet started to tingle, and a warmth began diffusing outward from his chest through his body, slowly increasing in heat as he waited. The Specialist waited until it felt like he was going to explode in a ball of fire, his cheeks flushed with warmth, before he exploded from cover, his aura leaving light blue contrails behind him as he sprinted towards the monster. When it raised a paw to swipe at him, he braced himself, and planted his shoulder into it, his hands shooting up to help push back against the strength of the Manticore. Another lance of purple energy stuck into the beasts shoulder, and when it opened it's mouth to scream, Alexander pulled a pistol from it's holster and emptied the magazine into the roof of it's mouth, causing it take a step back, shaking it's head in irritation, but otherwise seemingly unbothered.

When it recovered, barely a second later, it sent a barrage of spikes at Alexander who was forced to roll out of the way to dodge the spikes, but was met with a massive paw the second he stopped moving, launching him back through a wall that collapsed behind him, into a second, that cracked and strained dangerously around him, but for better or worse, stood strong. Alexander felt Roland's energy drain away from him with the initial hit, and felt his own aura struggle to stay up from the impact with the walls as he barely staggered to his feet in time to see the Manticore unfurl massive bat-like wings from it's back, and take to the sky in a single flap, only to slam into a giant black glyph that threw the monster sprawling onto the ground hard enough to send tremors through the village not unlike an earthquake.

Winter, Ianthe, Lily, and Amber walked down the street towards the monster, Winter clearly struggling to maintain the glyph and move, her hand held out in a fist towards the beast, and beads of sweat rolling down her face that was locked in an expression of visceral anger, behind her mask. When they reached it, they were joined by Alexander and Roland, who watched as Winter stabbed down with vengeful savagery, her sabre piercing through it's head and into the concrete underneath. When she pulled the blade out, the Manticore made to open it's mouth, but no sound came out, and Winter stabbed down once more, finally finishing the beast, which slowly started to turn to smoke. The column of smoke was briefly halted in it's ascent by the black glyph, but the glyph slowly spiralled into nothing, and a column of smoke filled the sky.

Winter slumped backwards, her eyelids fluttering in exhaustion, expecting to feel hard cobble, but instead felt Alexander scoop her up in a bridal carry. Her head rolled to rest against his shoulder, the cold metal of her mask seeping heat from him.

"I'm just going to take a quick nap." She said, her eyes closing as she fell unconscious to the rumbling in Alexander's chest of his chuckle. Amber, who had removed her mask, looked only marginally closer to consciousness than Winter, her eyes unfocused, her fingers only barely holding onto her mask, and her arms hanging limply at her sides like she couldn't summon the strength to put her mask back on. Lily stood off to the side with Roland, her eyes downturned in sadness as she held a hand to her husband's face, siphoning off what little aura he had to give to help fix her shoulder, her own mask hanging from her belt at her hip.

A glance to Ianthe from Alexander was all it took for her to reach into her pocket and pull out a flare gun. Firing it up into the air, the bright green fireball arced upwards, pale green smoke following it through the apex of the shot. A few minutes later, a large Mistral patrol ship started flying towards their position, forcing Lily and Amber to pull their masks on.

"You guys from that ship crash just outside the village?" One of the patrolmen asked, as the sides of the airship slid open once it had landed. The patrolman was leaning against a turreted gun that sat on rails, the barrel pointed at the ceiling of the cargo bay.

"Yeah, something shot us down, you guys see anything on your way in?" Ianthe asked, and the patrolman shook his head.

"Calm as ever. Whatever wanted you guys to crash here was long gone by the time we got here. Speaking of, wasn't there a distress signal from here?" The patrolman asked, and his colleagues, one on the other side with the second gun, and a man and a woman from the cockpit, made their way over to help the group onto the airship, one momentarily taking Winter from Alexander's arms before he took her back, strapping her into a seat.

"There was. For bandits." Amber remarked drily, and one of the pilots scoffed.

"Not likely. Only real bandit tribe still running around is the Branwen tribe, but you guys know all about that, don't you?" He jokingly inquired, the tinted lenses of his flight helmet pointing at Alexander, who merely shrugged.

"I'm sure I don't know anything about the heroic vigilantes who have been eliminating bandit tribes." He answered with a mirthful bubble in his voice. The pilot chuckled.

"Right, well, if you happen to run into those vigilantes, tell them we, and by proxy the rest of the military, appreciate them making our jobs way easier recently. Not worrying about the bandits means we've been able to focus more on the Grimm. You guys- I mean… the vigilantes, are helping us save a ton of lives." The other pilot said, her head turning to scan across all six Hunters in her cargo bay. "Thank you." She spoke more quietly, but sounded just as sincere.

"Just doing our jobs." Roland rumbled from behind his helmet, and the woman nodded, before motioning to her fellow pilot, and the pair headed back into the cockpit. Alexander and the other Hunters grabbed onto handles hanging from the ceiling as the airship powered up and lifted off. The gunner closest to Alexander turned his helmet once they were in the air.

"We taking you guys back to Mistral?" He asked, the noise of the engines blocked out by the closed doors.

"Drop us on the road just south. Half a klick out."

…

 **Six Months after the Fall**

Alexander, once again, found himself sprinting through the streets of Mistral. This time, however, he was not trying to evade capture. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Barely twenty paces in front of him was a woman in a White Fang outfit, complete with the mask on her face. Alexander put a hand up to his ear, waiting for the subtle crackle to let him know the line was live.

"I'm on her. Maybe twenty yards ahead of me." He said, watching the woman turn a corner that he himself shot around a few seconds later, pushing off the wall he almost slammed into, barely keeping his momentum as he shot down the alley after her.

"Have you seen any aura use?" Winter's voice asked, and Alexander grunted as he bowled through a few civilians. Alexander pulled out his pistol while sprinting around another corner, stopped for a second, a squeezed off a few shots after the White Fang member. She turned behind her and threw a hand up, the bullets slamming into a aura field.

"Definitely an aura user." Alexander said as he sprinted after her again.

"Just who we're looking for, then." Was Winter's reply. "Give her a chase for a little longer while I get everyone in place." Alexander didn't reply, instead picking up his pace, the people and buildings he passed turning into a blur as his gaze focused in on the White Fang woman. After about another minute of chasing her through the city, he started to gain on her, the effort of staying ahead of him clearly starting to wear on her. Alexander managed to get within a few feet of her before she turned around, a javelin of sorts in her hand. She stopped dead, slamming the haft of the javelin into his chest, and an explosion rocked the alleyway, blasting Alexander away from her and into the brick wall behind him, cracking it. Alexander shook it off as quick as he could, his aura sparking angrily as he ran after her again.

Alexander heard her cursing him under her breath as she ran, and a vindictive smirk formed on his face. Another minute or two of chasing later, and he was slowly starting to gain on her again. Noticing this, the White Fang woman again stopped, spinning on her heel, and throwing the javelin right at his chest from barely feet away. Alexander felt his extremities go a little numb as his semblance activated and he dodged to the side just in time, the head of the javelin tugging at his shirt. The woman activated something on her wrist and the javelin came flipping through the air back to her hand. She stabbed it at him and he grabbed just past the point, wrestling for control of the javelin, but she hit a button on the haft and fire dust exploded from the point into his face.

Thrown to the ground by the explosion, Alexander shook his head to clear his vision and try to get the ringing out of his ears, his aura struggling to recover. He came to his senses to see the woman standing over him, the javelin poised to stab downwards at him.

"Leave me alone! I just want to be left alone!" She yelled, before turning and running off again. Alexander let out a heavy sigh, reaching up to his earpiece.

"That long enough?" He asked, and Winter laughed.

"Yes. That was plenty of time. Thank you, Alexander."

…

"So, this is the place?" Alexander asked, looking at the large building set into the mountain. Easily distinguishable as Mistralian from it's architecture, it had only one obvious entrance, with a set of large wooden doors, while the back half of the building was buried into the side of the mountain.

"As best we can tell. Winter and Lily tracked her to this area, and this is the only building for miles around. I haven't seen anybody come or go, though." Ianthe said, raking a hand through her hair, pulling it away from her face.

"Small correction, nobody's come or gone through the front door. Doesn't mean there isn't an entrance we haven't found yet." Alexander said, crouching down next to the archer, his eyes scanning the side of the mountain.

"Where would it be, then?" Ianthe asked, and Alexander shrugged.

"Might not even be close. Could be a tunnel that comes out a click past the other side of the mountain. Could be a door hidden behind a waterfall. Those are always fun." Alexander joked, and Ianthe let out a short laugh.

"So, what are you going to do?" She asked, and Alexander sighed heavily, eyeing the side of the building.

"I'm gonna hope none of those windows are reinforced."

…

"Can you hit the window two floors above me?" Alexander asked, a hand to his ear.

"Yeah, but why that one?" Ianthe asked, and Alexander looked over his shoulder worriedly, watching the encroaching storm clouds.

"Because I need a way to get inside, and they won't think to investigate a broken window they've already looked at." Alexander said, and a few seconds later, a purple arrow lanced through the air and hit the window, smashing out the center of the glass, and raining down shards of glass on Alexander.

"Ah, shit." Alexander bowed his head, feeling the glass bounce off of his clothes. When it stopped, he started climbing again, stopping a few feet to the left of the broken window. Hearing a few voices inside, paired with boots clomping around on the ground, Alexander stopped, his heart racing as he briefly looked down, easily seventy feet in the air. The boots slowly moved away, the voices going with them, and Alexander took a few steadying breaths, looking around for more handholds, cursing when he found none.

"I'm starting to think this is a shitty idea." Ianthe said.

" _Starting_ to?" Alexander asked, waiting for a response, but getting none in return, he readied himself and threw his body to the side, catching the windowsill with a barely noticeable crunch from the wood compressing under his grip, his shoulders protesting loudly. Alexander pulled himself in through the window with a wince, rolling his shoulders experimentally once inside, his aura sparking to repair any damage.

"You alright?" Ianthe asked, and Alexander looked around before bringing his hand up to his ear.

"Yeah, I'm good. Assume radio silence unless I call you. It'll take a while to find what I'm looking for." Alexander said, not bothering to wait for her reply, turning his earpiece off and lowering his hand back to his side. He looked around briefly, noting the lack of torches or working overhead lights, and, not for the first time, was extremely grateful that his mask had night vision. Turning it on, everything in the hall was bathed in a soft green, but was visible, which was more than he would have been able to say a few seconds ago.

"So, if I'm the leader of a militant organization hidden in an old military outpost, where do I put my war room? Up on the top floor or down in the basement?" He asked himself, looking around as he started walking down the hallway, looking around for anything that might be the door to the stairs. Failing to find the stairs, he found the doors for the elevator, and he looked around carefully, making sure nobody was coming or close enough to notice, before slowly prying the doors open. It took a tremendous effort to open them initially, but once they were open, the hydraulics kicked in, and pulled the doors apart easily. Alexander barely kept himself from falling into the elevator shaft, cursing under his breath. Looking up a few floors, he saw that the elevator was rusted, and more importantly, listed to the side on it's tracks.

"Fuck fuck fuck." He said, stepping back, looking around the hall, and hearing some voices from down the hall. Alexander looked around, and sighed.

"Guess we're checking down first." He said, walking towards the elevator shaft, and jumping to catch the steel pole in the center of the shaft, slowly sliding down it. The voices slowly got closer and then farther away as he slid down the pole. Looking up, he could see flashlights shining into the elevator shaft, and he loosened his grip a little bit, sliding down faster, before the flashlight moved to shine down the shaft. He reached an I-beam several floors down and took a huge step off the pole onto the I-beam, resting his back against the elevator doors of that floor as quietly as possible. The flashlight shone down, lighting up the wall opposite him, and creeping it's way over towards him, flashing down towards the bottom of the shaft. Finding nothing, the light disappeared, and Alexander strained his ears, listening for the guards several floors above him, waiting for them to leave.

When they did, and hearing nothing from the floor he was currently on, Alexander leaned his weight out towards the pole. He jumped to the pole once more, and Alexander continued sliding down the steel pole. Finally reaching the bottom, Alexander stepped off onto the recessed floor, which sat about three feet below the bottom of the doors to the elevator shaft. Alexander walked forward, and rested the side of his head against the doors, focusing, listening for anything. Hearing nothing, he slowly pried the elevator doors open. Just like earlier, the doors slid open easily once the hydraulics kicked in, and Alexander found himself face to face with a group of White Fang soldiers, their weapons levelled at him.

"What're the odds you guys just let me leave peacefully?" He asked, taking a few steps away from the door. None of the White Fang said anything, but one of them turned the safety on his rifle off, answering Alexander's question.

"So, not great odds, huh?" Alexander said. The White Fang soldier closest to Alexander looked to the side to look at one of the other soldiers, likely in confusion, and Alexander took that as his opportunity to attack. He ran forward, vaulting himself up into the lead soldier, tackling him to the ground, ripping the rifle from his hands as he did so, slamming it down into the soldier's head, ignoring the bullets pinging off of his aura. Alexander stood, dropping the rifle and drawing his pistols in one smooth motion, slamming the butt of his pistol into the mask of another soldier, sending him reeling. Alexander swung around the stunned soldier, looping one arm around the soldier's neck, pointing his pistol at the other White Fang soldiers.

"This doesn't have to end poorly, guys." Alexander said, and the soldiers raised their rifles in response. He pushed his captive forward into the clump, taking the opportunity to turn his pistols into escrima sticks and then into a singular bo staff that he spun around himself, the bo staff deflecting some bullets, then cracking it several times against one of the soldiers, lightning dust exploding from the bo staff with each strike, the soldier falling to the ground convulsing, but alive. Another fell to the bo staff, and Alexander was faced with only three soldiers left armed, while his once hostage picked up a rifle from his fallen comrades.

Alexander jumped forward, swinging his bo staff again, planting one end in a soldier's sternum, knocking the wind out of him, before he dropped to the ground from a strike across his temple. A few more bullets pinged off his aura, one finally ripping a trail across his bicep, before he managed to knock out the last few soldiers. Alexander stood, looking around, catching his breath, and holstering his weapons. He stood in an antechamber of sorts, a large room with several doors connected to it, but what drew his attention was a massive pair of doors that reached from floor to ceiling in the antechamber.

"Well. Guess I'd put my war room in the basement." Alexander said, stepping towards the doors. He pushed the doors open, and stepped into a massive room, several columns supporting the ceiling that towered above him.

"Small correction. Apparently I'd put my _throne_ room in the basement." He said, walking forward, eyes looking around for any threats, but also drinking in the room, noting first the giant black and red White Fang banners that hung on the walls, then the throne that stood on a dais. A woman in White Fang uniform stepped out from behind the throne, holding a javelin, and Alexander smirked under his mask.

"I don't know who you are, human, but either leave right now, or I'll have to kill you." She said, and Alexander sighed.

"You don't want to do this." He said. She stepped forward, readying her javelin.

"Believe me, I do." She said, and Alexander almost hurt himself with how hard he rolled his eyes. He sighed before he raised his hand and made a beckoning motion.

"Well come on then. Have a go if you think you're hard enough." Alexander said, and she threw her javelin towards him at unnatural speed, clearly enhanced somehow by her aura. Alexander's eyes lit up under his mask and he leaned to the side, grabbing the spear out of the air, before flipping it around and sending it back just as quickly. The woman dodged out of the way, and the javelin stuck into the wall behind her, activating the fire dust in the tip, setting off an explosion that knocked her off her feet. Alexander walked calmly forward, drawing his pistols as he did so, checking the magazines of his pistols idly.

"Just give up. I have something important to do, and you're just going to waste my time." He said, while the woman was recovering. When she stood up, she pressed a button on her wrist and the javelin ripped out of the wall, spinning through the air to her hand, where she readied another throw.

"That's all I have to do." She growled, and Alexander tilted his head to the side, furrowing his eyebrows in thought. She threw the spear again, and Alexander knocked it off course this time, sending it hurtling towards a pillar. The woman pressed another button while the javelin was in the air, however, and the dust in the javelin erupted, causing an explosion that sent Alexander stumbling. When he recovered he dashed towards the woman, his pistols now escrima sticks, ducking to avoid the javelin that was returning to her hand. He deflected her stab, planting a straight kick into her chest, knocking her off her feet to land on the steps of the dais. As she was struggling to return to her feet, Alexander struck her across the temple with his escrima stick, knocking her out.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" A voice asked from behind Alexander, and he turned to see a woman with brown skin, yellow eyes, short black hair, a small jewel in the center of her head, tiger ears, several piercings in both her animal and human ears, and tattoos all over her body that looked like tiger stripes. She wore a black dress that clung to her like a second skin, black leggings and shorts under the dress, a green waist cincher, a black belt that held a pouch to her right hip, black boots that went to mid calf, and a black fingerless glove on her right arm that came up to her bicep. She spun a chain whip in her right hand, the extra length of which was wrapped around her right forearm, and partially covered an emblem on her glove.

"Let me guess, if I don't answer your questions, you'll kill me, right? I mean, that's what I'd do in your shoes." Alexander said, holstering his weapons.

"Yes." Was all she said, and Alexander sighed.

"Well, I won't tell you who I am right now, but I'm here to talk to you, Sienna Khan." He replied, and the tiger faunus blinked her eyes a few times. Taking advantage of the silence, Alexander continued talking.

"You know, I'm not one for grandstanding, but I have to say, I do like what you've done with the place. The throne's pretty top. Not a huge fan of the banners, but I understand the appeal. Who's your interior decorator? I'm looking to create an underground bunker lair combo as well, and I'd love some tips about what to do with all the open area I'll have on the walls." He said, but was stopped when the chain whip shot out to graze past his face before returning to the White Fang's supreme leader, who went back to spinning it.

"Talk. Now." She said, her eyes hard. Alexander sighed.

"Alright. Adam Taurus was one of the key planners of the assault on Beacon." He started before motioning to Sienna. "But I'm sure you already knew that. What you probably don't know is that I believe he's going to move to take over the White Fang."

"Adam has long wanted to be in charge of the White Fang. That is not news to me." Sienna replied, and Alexander held up a placating hand.

"I'm aware. What I'm trying to say is that he may not wait for you to step down to assume the position of High Leader of the White Fang." Alexander said, and Sienna blinked several times.

"You say he's planning a coup." She replied, and Alexander nodded.

"That's exactly what I'm saying." Alexander said.

"And how exactly does Adam execute this coup you believe he's planning?" She asked, the chain whip slowing down marginally.

"He isolates you. It's just you and him in the room. He kills you, blames it on a Hunter somehow. Says they infiltrated the compound, assassinated you, and got away before he was able to avenge your death." Alexander said, and she scoffed.

"That'd be a far-fetched tale for him to try to sell." Sienna replied, and Alexander tilted his head.

"Is it? I just broke in. Took me about, oh, thirty minutes? I know a few Hunters and Specialists who could do it in less, cleaner too, given they have time to prepare and case out the place." Alexander said, and Sienna inclined her head at him.

"And why do you care if I live or die?" She asked.

"Because as much as I disagree with you and your methods, you have a direction and a clear set of boundaries. Civilians don't die on your missions. Innocent people don't suffer needlessly because of your orders in Mistral. In Vale? Under Adam's command? The White Fang would become cold blooded murderers, fighting not for the cause of Faunus rights, not for respect, but for domination." Alexander replied, and Sienna narrowed her eyes.

"Are you implying that Adam no longer fights for Faunus rights?" She asked, and Alexander held his hands up defensively.

"I'm just saying that if that was his true goal, why would he attack Beacon? A school that has a long history of admitting and recruiting Faunus students just as often as human students. Why attack it? What goal would assaulting a school further?" Alexander asked, and the chain whip started to slow down even more, Sienna's eyes drifting away from Alexander while she thought.

"I see only one possible explanation." Alexander said, and her yellow eyes snapped back to him. "Adam is no longer fighting with the White Fang to further the White Fang's goals, but fighting to further someone else's goals, because they promised him something." Sienna's chain stopped spinning, and she wrapped it around her forearm.

"I will think on this. For now, leave. I will send someone to get in touch with you if need be." Sienna said, walking past him and crouching down next to her fallen soldier. Alexander looked around and nodded.

"That's not needlessly mysterious at all. I guess I'll just… find my own way out…"

…

 **Seven Months after the Fall**

Alexander was walking outside the city of Mistral when he was approached by a squad of White Fang soldiers. Not one of them carried the standard rifles of the White Fang's grunt soldiers, and Alexander blinked a few times behind his mask. The sun had long since set, and the forest they found themselves in was almost oppressively dark.

"You here for something, or should I expect a fight? Ten to one are some pretty long odds, but I've had worse." Alexander said, and a few of them looked to a woman who had a khopesh of sorts holstered at her waist.

"Sienna Khan wants to speak. We're to take you to her." She said, and Alexander looked around before shrugging.

"Lead away, boys and girls."

…

The squad of White Fang soldiers led Alexander to a cliff overlooking a valley. At the bottom of the valley, a river cut through the landscape, flanked on both banks by thick shrubbery and sheer walls. On top of the cliff was another story. One of the parts of Mistral that had been subject to corporate endeavours, both sides of the valley had been heavily removed of all greenery, to make way for a facility that had never been built, likely because of frequent Grimm attacks in the area making supplying the construction of the facility difficult.

"Hell of a spot you've picked here." Alexander said, walking up to the tiger faunus, who stood near the edge of the cliff, his escort having abandoned him before they left the forest, giving he and Sienna an area of around a kilometer between them and the closest person in sight.

"I wanted to make sure you hadn't brought any friends with you." She replied, turning to face him, her arms crossed, and now wearing a red cape that stopped just above her ankles.

"Well, I seem to be at a disadvantage, then, don't I? Seeing as how you _did_ bring friends with you." He said, sparing a glance back towards the forest behind him.

"Too far away to help in any real capacity." She responded, and Alexander shrugged.

"You wanted to talk." Alexander said, and Sienna nodded.

"One of my most reliable people has informed me that the Menagerie cell is now taking orders from Adam." Sienna said, and Alexander tilted his head.

"And you wanted my opinion on this?" He asked, and Sienna took a long moment to reply before nodding.

"You seem to know Adam well. Or, at least, what he has become. And no one who boasts the same level of knowledge is close enough to help me. Why would he care about the Menagerie cell?" She asked, her yellow eyes scanning the impassive visage of his mask.

"The Belladonnas." He said, and when she said nothing, he continued. "There are two major threats to his control of the White Fang, of his goal of turning it into a terrorist group top to bottom, and instituting his practices throughout it. You, obviously." Sienna nodded. "And the Belladonnas. As long as there is someone like Ghira, like Kali, like Blake, out there, telling the Faunus that the answer is not militarism but pacifism, he will always have a large group of dissenters, he will always have Faunus that will publically refuse to follow his lead, and will instead join the Belladonnas. He eliminates that, he can impose his autocratic rule over the Faunus people, and lead them in a bloody crusade against humans across the globe."

"You think that's his goal? A race war?" Sienna asked, incredulity dripping off every word.

"And what better way to incite a race war than to have you and the Belladonnas killed by 'Hunters'. It gives the Faunus a common enemy. Those that support you and the White Fang join to avenge you, those that support the Belladonnas join to take revenge for them. He'll still have holdouts, but they won't be nearly as vocal, and he'll have the vast majority of the Faunus supporting him, both in Menagerie and abroad." Alexander replied, and Sienna nodded thoughtfully, looking across the ravine.

"The Belladonnas can take care of themselves. That I have no worries with." Sienna said, looking around briefly before levelling a stare at Alexander. "What I am concerned with is why you care."

"I beg your pardon?" Alexander said, with a laugh.

"Take the mask off. I'm not going to continue talking to someone who hides behind a mask." Sienna said, and Alexander scoffed.

"Considering you spend a considerable amount of time associating yourself with people who hide behind masks, that's a very hypocritical thing of you to say. Would I be remiss to demand the same of Ilia Amitola or Adam Taurus?" Alexander shot back, and Sienna's eyes narrowed.

"I never approved of using the masks. They were a move from Adam that became popular, and they helped us have anonymity, but they always hurt our message. So, you either walk away right now without a fight, I bring my friends over so we can take you down and rip that mask off of you ourselves, or you take off the mask. Your choice." Sienna said, her tone icy and threatening. Alexander looked Sienna over for a long few seconds, sizing her up, and glancing behind him towards the treeline before he finally nodded.

"Fine. But I want you to swear on your life that you tell nobody." He said, and it was Sienna's turn to scoff.

"Please. You can't make that threat." She said, and Alexander crossed his arms.

"Can't I? I have powerful friends, Sienna. We know where your compound is. We could _exterminate_ the White Fang's presence in Mistral. So swear it. Swear on penalty of death that my identity never leaves your lips. If I find out my identity's been leaked, I'll know exactly who to hunt down." Alexander said. Sienna said nothing for a while, her glare boring holes into Alexander while she clenched and unclenched her jaw. Eventually she nodded.

"Fine. I swear, upon penalty of death that I will tell no one of your identity if you take off your mask." She finally said, and Alexander inclined his head, doing nothing for a few seconds before reaching up and pulling his mask off, raking a hand through his hair to fix any stray strands of hair. Alexander levelled his gaze at the leader of the White Fang, and to her credit, she didn't outwardly react except for a widening of her eyes in shock before she schooled her face back to neutrality.

"The Hunter." She growled, a hand twitching towards her lower back.

"Apparently the rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated." Alexander said, his voice emotionless and cold.

"I should kill you where you stand." Sienna said, and Alexander continued to just stare at her.

"Think you've got good odds on that?" He responded, and her nostrils flared angrily.

"I think it might be worth a shot." She said.

"And hand complete control of the White Fang over to Adam?" Alexander replied, coolly. Sienna did nothing for a few seconds before relaxing.

"Damn you. Damn you and that Schnee bitch both." Sienna bit out.

"Believe me, lass, we already are." Alexander said, and Sienna said nothing for a few seconds, simply glaring at him. "I bet my threat carries a hell of a lot more weight to it now, doesn't it?"

"I may have been your enemy once, Sienna, but I have not lied to you since I met you. Adam Taurus is a real threat to the White Fang and what it stands for. You need to be careful." Alexander said.

"Why help us? You hunted us like animals. What do you stand to gain from this?" She asked, narrowing her eyes.

"I hunted radical cells. The White Fang in Atlas and Vale fit that description. But I stand to gain nothing. What I'm worried about is what Adam stands to lose. Without the support of the White Fang, he's nothing. The people that are pulling Adam's strings need manpower to fight their battles. In Vale it was the White Fang. In Mistral…" Alexander trailed off.

"There are no more bandits left except the Branwen tribe. And without the White Fang they have no manpower." Sienna said, shaking her head, almost in disgust. "You're always thinking seven steps ahead, aren't you?"

"I've found that when I don't my friends end up in the ICU or the morgue. There's no room for error on this." Alexander said, and Sienna nodded her head thoughtfully.

"The White Fang will no longer support Adam Taurus' actions, or the actions of his rogue cells." Sienna said, and a smile pulled at Alexander's lips for barely a moment.

"I appreciate that, Sienna. Keep your people out of trouble, and watch your back. Adam Taurus _will_ be coming for you."

…

"You blew your cover?" Winter asked, hands clasped over her crossed knees, watching Alexander carefully as he paced around their room.

"It was the only way. I fight my way out, Adam takes control of the White Fang. I walk away, Khan ignores everything I'd said up to that point. I had to do it." Alexander said. Winter tilted her head.

"So the leader of the White Fang knows you're alive, and by extension, me as well." Winter stated.

"But, the White Fang publicly disavowed Adam's actions before, during, and after the Fall. And Salem's faction will have no manpower from the White Fang under Sienna's command. Sienna's too independent to bend to a faceless puppeteer like Salem." Alexander explained, and Winter nodded.

"So. A win. Bittersweet, but a win nonetheless." Winter said. Alexander shook his head.

"I just can't help feeling like we've overlooked something. Just to be safe, I think we need to run overwatch on Sienna until Adam makes his play."

…

 **Eight Months after the Fall**

Ruby was panicking. The adrenaline of the fight combined with seeing her uncle slowly dying of poison was making her hands shake slightly while she kneeled next to his prone body. She had bandaged his wound as best as possible, but she was slowly starting to hyperventilate while team JNPR argued between each other behind her.

"How did he even get here? And, again, who _is_ he?" She heard Jaune yell, his voice pitched and earnest.

"That's not what matters right now, Jaune. He's hurt, and he needs serious medical attention. We _need_ to get to Mistral. As fast as we can." Pyrrha replied.

"His injury is going to slow us down a great deal." Ren said, and Ruby was broken out of her reverie when Qrow's hand latched onto her forearm.

"In my pocket. My scroll. Call Alexander." Qrow said, his breathing labored, and every word an effort right now.

"He's delirious, too?" Jaune asked.

"No, Jaune, he's not." Ruby said, searching through Qrow's pockets, finally pulling out his scroll with a sigh of relief.

"I have to agree with Jauney boy here. Alexander and Winter both died at the Fall. We all heard it." Nora said, while Ruby scrolled through Qrow's contacts, looking for Alexander or Winter's names.

"Did we? We didn't actually hear them die. The signal cut out before that happened." Ren replied, and Ruby was starting to get flustered until she saw a contact with her phone number under 'The Kiddo', sparing a smile while she started scrolling again. Finally she found a contact labelled 'Snake Eater'. Rolling her eyes, she hit the call button.

"Qrow, what's wrong?" Alexander's voice asked, his voice a little choppy.

"What the hell?" Ruby heard Jaune ask behind her.

"This is Ruby. Qrow's hurt. Bad. Some weird dude with a stinger for a tail got him in the stomach." Ruby said, and heard Alexander curse from the other end.

"How far out from Mistral are you?" He asked, and Ruby looked around, getting shrugs from the members of JNPR.

"I don't know. We're in some abandoned settlement-" Ruby was cut off by Ren.

"Oniyuri."

"It's called Oniyuri." She said, and Ruby heard Alexander sigh heavily.

"You're a ways out, Ruby. I can't get anyone to you when you're that far. You need to get closer to Mistral. Farthest Mistral patrols are getting out these days is Kuroyuri. I can have people waiting for you there for extraction." Alexander said, and Ruby furrowed her eyebrows.

"You won't be coming to get us yourself?" She asked.

"No, Ruby. I likely won't be able to get you myself unless something changes between now and then. I'll send some people. If I can swing the manpower, I'll send some people you recognize. If not, well, you'll know I sent them. Get to Kuroyuri as soon as you can, and call me when you get close." Alexander said, ending the call, leaving Ruby frustrated, and wanting to smash Qrow's scroll against the ground.

"So? What do we do?" Jaune asked, all four members of JNPR looking to Ruby to call it.

"We have to get to Kuroyuri. That's our extraction point. Jaune, Ren, carry Qrow. Nora and Pyrrha, you're with them. I'll take point." Ruby commanded, something that made Qrow, half passed out, smile to himself.

…

Alexander ended the call and looked next to him to see Winter, sitting and waiting quietly. He pocketed his scroll and sighed, taking off his mask so he could rub his temples.

"They're farther than I thought they'd be by now." Alexander said, and Winter reached a hand out to rub his back soothingly.

"They'll be okay. She's a tough girl." Winter said, and Alexander leaned into her side.

"That's the problem. She's just a kid. Sixteen. Nearly seventeen. God, Winter, Weiss' nearing nineteen. How do we rationalize sending these _kids_ into a shadow war?" He asked, and Winter's hand moved to gently squeeze the back of his neck.

"Ozpin gave us no choice. Salem left us no options." She replied, her voice choked with emotion.

"I know. Shit, it just sucks. Those kids are all alone walking through Mistral, and they don't have Qrow running interference anymore." Alexander said, and Winter nodded.

"They'll make it through, Alexander. They'll be okay."

…

Ruby had noticed Nora and Ren's agitation growing the closer they got to Kuroyuri, but chose to ignore it. They had no other options. So they forged ahead, Ren and Nora cutting through a mountain pass while Ruby took Ren's spot on the stretcher, carrying Qrow to the town, her silver eyes scanning anything and everything that might be out of place in the Mistral countryside. The sun was starting to come up over the horizon when Ruby, Qrow, Pyrrha, and Jaune reached Kuroyuri. They were joined after a moment by Nora and Ren, coming down from the mountains to walk with them into the village.

They had barely gotten to the village square when Ruby felt the ground rumble. Looking around for a source, she motioned Jaune to take Qrow and carry him into an alleyway well off the square, somewhere he would be safe if trouble was coming. She was not prepared for a strange horse Grimm, with a humanoid shape attached to it like a jockey from hell, it's long arms dragging along the ground as it walked into the square. It's movements were jerky, and it's head snapped this way and that with stomach churning cracks accompanying each movement. What cemented it as a permanent fixture in her future nightmares was when it's head snapped to stare eerily at the group of Hunters in training, it's mouth slowly creeping open before it let out a screech that pierced deep into her skull like a nail.

Ruby threw her hands up to cover her ears, but it did almost nothing to stop the pain, and she screwed her eyes shut until she heard something slam into the ground in front of her. She opened her eyes to see a tall dark skinned bald man with a metal right arm, and a large katana across his back standing in front of her. A heartbeat later, he was joined by a man covered head to toe in metal armor, slamming into the ground with a clatter and an impact that sent tremors through the earth. A third person, this one a woman, shrouded in a cloak, joined the first two, softening her impact with a gust of wind. She turned around, and Ruby could make out a mask under the hood.

"Who's in charge?" She asked, and JNPR looked expectantly at Ruby, who took a shuddering breath.

"I am." She said, her voice steeled. The hooded woman nodded.

"You have a horde coming. Bad luck on your part. Three days later, the majority of Grimm would have migrated past, and they would have ignored the Nuckelavee's cry." The figure said, and the woman's voice pulled at something in the back of Ruby's mind. "What's your name?"

"Ruby Rose." Ruby replied.

"Well then, Ruby, call it." The woman said, and Ruby eyed her for a moment. Ruby took a steadying breath and nodded.

"Pyrrha, Ren, Jaune, and… you." She said, pointing at the armored man, who was now hefting a massive axe.

"Roland." He supplied, and Ruby felt another twinge at the back of her mind.

"Right. Roland. You deal with the… Nuckelavee. Nora, you two, and myself, are running interference. If we get a chance to help with the Nuckelavee, we will, but our first priority has to be keeping the horde off of them while they deal with that… monster." Ruby said, her face stony serious. The hooded woman shared a glance with the dark skinned man and he smiled before both of them nodded, taking Ruby's lead as she pulled Crescent Rose off her back, extending it to full length in one motion. Ignoring the combat with the Nuckelavee that was already going on, Ruby swallowed through a knot in her throat and watched the entrances to the square carefully.

At first it was just a few Creeps, but all too quickly they were starting to get swarmed with Grimm of all kinds, from Beringel to Ursai. Ruby cut through one Ursa, and, still swinging her scythe like a wheel of death, she cut a path easily through the Grimm until she reached an Ursa that was far larger than the others. Crescent Rose skated off of the bone plates that covered it's body, and she was tossed away like a ragdoll. She stood up, and loading a magazine of fire dust bullets took a breath before squeezing off several shots at the Ursa that was charging at her, the fire exploding against it, and washing off it as it simply charge through the shots. Eventually, one found it's way into the Ursa's skin, and made a sizable divot in the Ursa's arm that didn't stop it from swiping at Ruby, who exploded into rose petals, reforming behind the Ursa, aiming and firing her rifle at the monster while still in the air. She hit the ground and rolled, eyes still locked on the Ursa, but was hit from the side by a charging boarbatusk, the impact throwing her up into the air, until she hit the ground hard, bouncing once and rolling before she stopped and shakily got to her feet. She felt her aura spark around her, but charged into the mass of Grimm again.

Slicing through a Beowolf she was forced to dissolve into petals again when a Creep launched itself at her. She felt a wall of heat engulf the space behind her, and Ruby turned to see the hooded woman throwing around gouts of flame and blasts of wind. Turning back around, Ruby cut through a few more Grimm, dodging out of the way of a Beringel's attempt to grab her. Unfortunately, she had to jump a little to do so, and the Beringel swung it's fist in a backhand, connecting solidly with her torso, and sending her flying again. She managed to land in a roll, coming up in a crouch, but there was stabbing pain in her ribs, and her aura wasn't even sparking anymore.

Cursing under her breath, Ruby looked up to see the Beringel barreling down on her until the dark skinned man jumped in front of her, his sword cutting easily through the unarmored Beringel, turning it to ash. Ruby tried to stand, but fell back into a crouch. Over to the side, she saw Nora was having similar problems, several cuts on her arms and legs, and a deep gouge cutting into her shoulder. The dark skinned man was starting to look a little worse for wear as well, his chest starting to heave with exertion, and the hooded woman had even sustained some damage. The dark skinned man saw the Nuckelavee fall and turned in the hooded woman's direction.

"Clear the field!" He shouted, and the hooded woman nodded, rising above the ground in a small tornado, storm clouds forming above her. A swipe of her hand, and lightning struck one Grimm, chaining through to several more, turning them all to ash. Another swipe of a hand, and frozen leaves from the trees around the village flew through the air at just barely subsonic speeds, slicing easily through the mass of Grimm. A final swipe of her hand, and a lightning bolt blasted apart the Beowolf bearing down on Nora, leaving the village as empty of Grimm as they had found it. The woman floated back down to the ground and rushed over to Ruby, helping her to her feet while the dark skinned man and Roland ran off in the direction of Qrow, returning a few seconds later with the stretcher.

"I really hope somebody saw all of that." Ruby said, and she heard the woman helping her laugh.

"Oh, trust me, somebody did." She said, and, a minute or two later, several Mistral military airships slowly came down to rest in the village square. A man sitting behind a turreted gun in the closest airship to Ruby inclined his head to the hooded woman.

"Good to see you again, lady. Glad you guys are still kicking." He said, and the hooded woman inclined her head in return.

"What the hell even happened here?" He asked, and the hooded woman looked over at Ruby, as if she was still de facto leader.

"Grimm. A lot them." Ruby said, and the gunner nodded.

"Where to this time? Straight to the city to take care of your wounded?" He asked, and Ruby nodded.

"Yes, please." She said, and the gunner nodded, standing up to talk to the cockpit before returning, sitting back down behind the gun.

"So, how does that work? Is it on locking hydraulics to keep it in place while firing? Or just a ratcheting system?" Ruby asked, her eyes lighting up, glancing between the gun and the slots in the floor that denoted it's track.

"Well, I don't know too much about it's mechanics, but I'll do my best to explain what I _do_ know…"

…

"What've you got for me, Roland?" Alexander asked, hitting a button to put his scroll on speaker. Winter scooted over to get closer, leaning into Alexander's side.

"They showed up at the worst time possible. A horde was passing by the day they showed up in Kuroyuri. Ran into a Nuckelavee as well. Some serious bad luck on their part. Good thing we'd been staked out on a rooftop." Roland said. Alexander breathed a sigh of relief.

"And where are they now?" Winter asked.

"I'm at Quentin's. They've rented out a house like his nearby. And, Alexander…" He trailed off.

"Yeah, Roland?" He asked.

"They've got questions. A lot of them. And Qrow's not up yet." Roland said, and Alexander sighed heavily.

"Alright. Send Lily and Ianthe out here. We'll be heading back when they get here."

…

 **A/N: Hey guys, I'm not dead! Sorry this chapter took forever and a half, but I lost motivation pretty hard to finish it over the summer when I wasn't writing consistently, and then I jumped in headfirst to a pretty difficult semester of university. On the upside, the next chapter is already started, so hopefully that'll be up soon. Did you guys like how I wrote Sienna Khan? Also, for those of you who have seen the new episode of RWBY, I just want to point out that I had written the confrontation with the Manticore in** _ **months**_ **ago, so, yeah.**


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